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Autre Publication Scientifique Année : 2012

Have Think Tanks in Washington D.C. Become Politicized?

Résumé

The paper addresses the following research question: Have think tanks in Washington D.C. become politicized from 1910 to 2010, and if so why? "Politicization" is made empirically tangible with a new primary database of all D.C. think tanks existent over the last century. Public policy-oriented research and advocacy organizations are studied from an explicitly evolutionary approach for the first time. It is found that while think tanks steadily accumulated until the early 1970s, their numbers increased fivefold from the late 1970s onwards. D.C. think tanks have, in fact, become significantly politicized over time: ideological advocacy think tanks (embracing broadly "conservative" or "liberal" worldviews) came to outnumber organizationally objective ("centrist or not identifiably ideological") academic or contract research think tanks. Most of today's advocacy think tanks embrace identifiably conservative ideologies. Based on chronological process tracing, it is shown that changes in the non-profit resource and tax environment, a relatively weak party system and frequent partisan polarization are important explanatory factors behind the politicization phenomenon. Far from living up to their constructive potential, it is argued, the capital city's think tanks now frequently hysterize rather than scrutinize policymaking, applying politicoideological principles of economic interventionism and social justice or, far more often, free markets, limited government and individual liberties to all things public policy. Main scholarly and practical implications of think tanks' politicization are sounded out.

Domaines

Sociologie
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Dates et versions

hal-00817797 , version 1 (25-04-2013)

Identifiants

  • HAL Id : hal-00817797 , version 1

Citer

Patrick Gilroy. Have Think Tanks in Washington D.C. Become Politicized?. 2012, pp.1-54. ⟨hal-00817797⟩
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