think tank

think tank, institute, corporation, or group organized for interdisciplinary research with the objective of providing advice on a diverse range of policy issues and products through the use of specialized knowledge and the activation of networks. Think tanks are distinct from government, and many are nonprofit organizations, but their work may be conducted for governmental as well as commercial clients. Projects for government clients often involve planning social policy and national defense. Commercial projects include developing and testing new technologies and new products. Funding sources include endowments, contracts, private donations, and sales of reports.

Origins

The term think tank was first used in military jargon during World War II to describe a safe place where plans and strategies could be discussed, but its meaning began to change during the 1960s when it came to be used in the United States to describe private nonprofit policy research organizations. It has been proposed that the first think tank was the socialist Fabian Society, founded in Great Britain in the late 19th century, which sought to influence the country’s public policy. For many years, the majority of scholars studying think tanks considered them a uniquely American phenomenon that boomed in the United States because of the perceived exceptionality of its political system and its rich tradition of private rather than public funding, which benefited think tanks. The organizations have also flourished, however, in other industrialized countries, such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia, where normally, they have tended to be fewer in number and less well funded than those in the United States. In the early 21st century, more than half the world’s think tanks were in Europe and North America. European think tanks vary considerably. In Germany, for example, large, influential think tanks exist, but they are often state funded and associated with political parties or universities. In France organizations similar to think tanks are related to the government in Paris and have a conflictual but subordinate relationship with political parties. In southern Europe, think tanks began to appear in the 1970s. Research on think tanks outside the Western world indicates that an even greater variety of organizations may exist globally.

Characteristics of think tanks

These organizations have a number of common characteristics. First is their policy focus, which means that their objective is to bring knowledge and policy making together by informing and, if possible, influencing the policy process. Think tanks conduct and recycle research that aims to solve policy problems and not solely to advance the theoretical debate. The second common characteristic is public purpose, which refers to the reason for the existence of think tanks. Most think tanks claim that they conduct research to inform the public and the government on how to improve public policy. Their rhetoric often claims that their work is for the common good and to educate the public. Third, the expertise and professionalism of their research staffs are the key intellectual resources of think tanks and a way of legitimizing their findings. Finally, the key activities of think tanks are usually research analysis and advice, which come in the form of publications, conferences, seminars, and workshops.

Typology

The diversity of organizations that fall under the term think tank has led to the creation of typologies. At least four types of think tanks can be observed. The first is the ideological tank, which refers to organizations that have a clearly specified political or, more broadly, ideological philosophy; they resemble “advocacy tanks,” institutions founded to research and solve problems and to lobby legislators to adopt their solutions. Examples include think tanks that provide economic and political ideas for the Conservative and Labour parties in the U.K. and the think tanks affiliated with political parties in Germany. The next type is the specialist tank, which includes institutes that have a thematic focus. The most common subjects are foreign and public policy, but think tanks also specialize in other issues, such as the environment. The third category includes institutes that work not at the national level but at either the regional level, such as the U.S. state-level think tanks, or the supranational level, such as the those based in Brussels that are concerned with the affairs of the European Union (EU). The final category is that of “think and do” tanks, which, apart from their traditional research activities, are active at a more practical level, such as in the funding of charity projects. This type of think tank bears some similarity to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Think tanks can be distinguished from other organizations that are involved in the political arena. They are different from university units that offer courses but also conduct research. They are different from philanthropic organizations that place a lower priority on the funding of research than on the funding of actions directed to society in a more straightforward way. They also are different from government advisory organizations because they play a distinctive and unique role by providing more independent intellectual support to, or new alternatives for, public policy. Nevertheless, there have been government research institutes—for example, in France—that are often described as think tanks. Finally, think tanks are different from pressure groups and interest groups. This division has become less obvious, because pressure groups increasingly develop in-house well-researched critiques of existing policy. One of the most important differences is that pressure groups have a membership of individuals as one of their central characteristics. When they do get involved in research, they do it to support their campaigns, and it does not constitute their preliminary interest.