Congress’s Own Think Tank

Congress’s Own Think Tank PDF Author: P. Blair
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137359056
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
Congress' Own Think Tank recaps the OTA experience?it's creation, operation, and circumstances of its closure? and that of organizations attempting to fill the gap since OTA's closure as well as a number of new forces shaping the current context for science and technology issues facing the Congress.

Congress’s Own Think Tank

Congress’s Own Think Tank PDF Author: P. Blair
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137359056
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 211

Get Book Here

Book Description
Congress' Own Think Tank recaps the OTA experience?it's creation, operation, and circumstances of its closure? and that of organizations attempting to fill the gap since OTA's closure as well as a number of new forces shaping the current context for science and technology issues facing the Congress.

The Competition of Ideas

The Competition of Ideas PDF Author: Murray Weidenbaum
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351484680
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 132

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Book Description
Murray Weidenbaum has been a visiting scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a speaker at meetings at the Brookings Institution, the Cato Institute, and the Heritage Foundation and has also written for their publications, and served as a reviewer of ongoing studies. In The Competition of Ideas, Weidenbaum examines the political economy of these vital institutions, drawing heavily on several decades of involvement in their activities. He is uniquely able to see their accomplishments as well as their shortcomings.Because of the importance of the activities of their organizations, and their tax-exempt status, think tanks are held to a high standard. Weidenbaum shows that sometimes think tanks are more tank than think?major think tanks are often predictable in the positions they take on public issues and are far better at analyzing the shortcomings of other elements of society than of their own operations. The overarching issue of quality control, Weidenbaum holds, deserves more attention than it has attained in the think tank world.This book presents a careful, balanced account of where think tanks have been and where they are now headed. Given the high levels of professionalism in many think tanks, a fundamental change in the attitude of their management is important. The compelling need is less for the wielder of policy than for the lucid synthesizer of relevant research and analysis. Likewise, society needs sensitivity to the long-term concerns of the citizenry more urgently than rapid response to the opportunities of the moment. Future competition, particularly among the major think tanks, could well be centered, not on achieving greater visibility, but on developing responses to economic, environmental, and national security problems that are likely to be adopted and carried out.

Information Wars

Information Wars PDF Author: Edward James Fagan
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 470

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Book Description
For much of modern history, U.S. political parties adopted a consensus non-partisan knowledge regime, consisting of experts at universities, non-partisan think tanks and government agencies, to inform policymaking decisions. However, after the consensus supported by the knowledge regime enabled the expansion of the scope of federal government domestic policy during the 1950s-1970s period, ideological conservatives rejected the non-partisan regime and created their own alternative knowledge regime centered around a small number of party-aligned think tanks. Democrats followed a few decades later to create their own alternative knowledge regime. These think tanks fill a privileged role advising political parties that is reserved for formal party organizations in most democracies. I argue that they use a variety of strategies, including issue redefinition, activating latent preferences and elite persuasion, to move their party’s positions away from the center and toward the left or right. They published biased policy analysis that often makes claims which conflict with claims made by non-partisan policy analysis. As they become larger and more influential across time or between issues, party-aligned think tanks increase polarization in Congress

The Congressional Research Service

The Congressional Research Service PDF Author: William H. Robinson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Legislative bodies
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description


The Fifth Estate

The Fifth Estate PDF Author: James G. McGann
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
ISBN: 081572831X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 251

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Book Description
The Fifth Estate: Think Tanks, Public Policy, and Governance is a comprehensive look at think tanks and the important role they play in shaping public policy and public discourse in the United States. Author James G. McGann illustrates the lasting impact of think tanks in today’s civil society. A survey that McGann conducted among all the leading think tanks in the United States highlights the progress that think tanks in the United States have made and the challenges they have yet to face. McGann clarifies the correlation between think tank research and the policies enacted by the past three presidential administrations by looking at case studies in both foreign and domestic policy. He also describes a phenomenon known as “the revolving door,” where think tanks provide former government officials an opportunity to share insights from public service, remain involved in policy debates, and continue to provide advice and commentary. Based on the history and the level of involvement seen today, the influence of think tanks is unlikely to diminish in the coming years.

Do Think Tanks Matter?

Do Think Tanks Matter? PDF Author: Donald E. Abelson
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0773575413
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
It is often assumed that think tanks carry enormous weight with lawmakers. In Do Think Tanks Matter? Donald Abelson argues that the basic question of how think tanks have evolved and under what conditions they can and do have an effect is consistently ignored. Think tank directors often credit their institutes with influencing major policy debates and government legislation and many journalists and scholars believe the explosion of think tanks in the latter part of the twentieth century indicates their growing importance in the policy-making process. Abelson goes beyond assumptions, identifying the influence and relevance of public policy institutes in today's political arena in the United States, where they've become an integral feature of the political landscape, and in Canada, where, despite recent growth in numbers, they enjoy less prominence than their US counterparts. By focusing on the policy cycle, issue articulation, policy formation, and implementation, Abelson argues that individual think tanks have sometimes played an important role in shaping the political dialogue and the policy preferences and choices of decision-makers but often in different ways and at different stages of the policy cycle. This revised and updated edition of the book includes up-to-date data (2000-08) on the growing visibility and policy relevance of think tanks in Canada and the United States.

Vital Statistics on Congress, 1991-1992

Vital Statistics on Congress, 1991-1992 PDF Author: Norman J. Ornstein
Publisher: CQ-Roll Call Group Books
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description


The Politics Industry

The Politics Industry PDF Author: Katherine M. Gehl
Publisher: Harvard Business Press
ISBN: 1633699242
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Leading political innovation activist Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter bring fresh perspective, deep scholarship, and a real and actionable solution, Final Five Voting, to the grand challenge of our broken political and democratic system. Final Five Voting has already been adopted in Alaska and is being advanced in states across the country. The truth is, the American political system is working exactly how it is designed to work, and it isn't designed or optimized today to work for us—for ordinary citizens. Most people believe that our political system is a public institution with high-minded principles and impartial rules derived from the Constitution. In reality, it has become a private industry dominated by a textbook duopoly—the Democrats and the Republicans—and plagued and perverted by unhealthy competition between the players. Tragically, it has therefore become incapable of delivering solutions to America's key economic and social challenges. In fact, there's virtually no connection between our political leaders solving problems and getting reelected. In The Politics Industry, business leader and path-breaking political innovator Katherine Gehl and world-renowned business strategist Michael Porter take a radical new approach. They ingeniously apply the tools of business analysis—and Porter's distinctive Five Forces framework—to show how the political system functions just as every other competitive industry does, and how the duopoly has led to the devastating outcomes we see today. Using this competition lens, Gehl and Porter identify the most powerful lever for change—a strategy comprised of a clear set of choices in two key areas: how our elections work and how we make our laws. Their bracing assessment and practical recommendations cut through the endless debate about various proposed fixes, such as term limits and campaign finance reform. The result: true political innovation. The Politics Industry is an original and completely nonpartisan guide that will open your eyes to the true dynamics and profound challenges of the American political system and provide real solutions for reshaping the system for the benefit of all. THE INSTITUTE FOR POLITICAL INNOVATION The authors will donate all royalties from the sale of this book to the Institute for Political Innovation.

What Should Think Tanks Do?

What Should Think Tanks Do? PDF Author: Andrew Dan Selee
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 0804789290
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 129

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Book Description
Think tanks and research organizations set out to influence policy ideas and decisions—a goal that is key to the very fabric of these organizations. And yet, the ways that they actually achieve impact or measure progress along these lines remains fuzzy and underexplored. What Should Think Tanks Do? A Strategic Guide for Policy Impact is the first practical guide that is specifically tailored to think tanks, policy research, and advocacy organizations. Author Andrew Selee draws on extensive interviews with members of leading think tanks, as well as cutting-edge thinking in business and non-profit management, to provide concrete strategies for setting policy-oriented goals and shaping public opinion. Concise and practically-minded, What Should Think Tanks Do? helps those with an interest in think tanks to envision a well-oiled machine, while giving leaders in these organizations tools and tangible metrics to drive and evaluate success.

Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise

Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise PDF Author: Andrew Rich
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 052183029X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
While the number of think tanks active in American politics has more than quadrupled since the 1970s, their influence has not expanded proportionally. Instead, the known ideological proclivities of many, especially newer think tanks with their aggressive efforts to obtain high profiles, have come to undermine the credibility with which experts and expertise are generally viewed by public officials. This book explains this paradox. The analysis is based on 135 in-depth interviews with officials at think tanks and those in the policy making and funding organizations that draw upon and support their work. The book reports on results from a survey of congressional staff and journalists and detailed case studies of the role of experts in health care and telecommunications reform debates in the 1990s and tax reduction in 2001.