Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Tables......Page 10
Figures......Page 12
Acknowledgments......Page 13
1 The Political Demography of Think Tanks......Page 15
The Study of Think Tanks......Page 20
What Defines Think Tanks?......Page 25
Think Tanks in a Period of Growth......Page 27
Scope and Diversity of Research Missions......Page 30
Identifiable Ideologies......Page 32
The Influence of Experts......Page 39
2 The Evolution of Think Tanks......Page 43
Existing Views on Developments among Think Tanks......Page 45
The First Think Tanks: Reflections of a Progressive Ideal......Page 48
The Middle of the Century......Page 55
The Beginnings of Change......Page 57
Shifting Currents: Ideological and Organizational Change in the 1960s......Page 58
Political Mobilization of Corporate Interests......Page 63
A New Cadre of Neoconservatives......Page 64
Political Mobilization of Fundamentalist Christians......Page 65
The Appeal of a New Economics......Page 66
The Heritage Foundation......Page 67
The Cato Institute......Page 69
The Roots of Organizational Imbalance......Page 70
The Tax Reform Act of 1969......Page 71
Shifting Priorities at the Ford Foundation......Page 75
Decline in Research and Development Dollars......Page 76
The Emphasis on Marketing Expertise......Page 81
Conclusion......Page 86
3 Political Credibility......Page 88
Perceptions of Think Tanks......Page 90
Perceptions of Think Tanks, Collectively......Page 91
Perceptions of Think Tanks, Individually......Page 94
Visibility with Congress and Journalists......Page 100
Assessing Visibility......Page 101
Results on the Frequency of the Use of Expertise......Page 106
Congressional Testimony......Page 107
Newspaper Citations......Page 109
Discussion of Regression Results......Page 110
Congressional Testimony......Page 111
Newspaper Citations......Page 113
Accounting for Visibility......Page 116
4 The Policy Roles of Experts......Page 118
Issues That Can Use Experts......Page 121
Setting the Agenda......Page 126
Policy Deliberation......Page 132
Setting the Agenda......Page 134
Policy Deliberation......Page 139
Moving Toward Enactment......Page 142
Setting the Agenda......Page 145
Policy Deliberation......Page 149
Final Enactment......Page 151
Opportunities for Experts in Policy Making......Page 152
The Substance of Expertise......Page 153
The Political Origins of Issues......Page 156
Interest Group Dominance......Page 158
Lessons for Experts about the Opportunities of Different Issues......Page 160
5 Policy Influence: Making Research Matter......Page 166
A Note on Methodology......Page 169
Agenda Setting on Health Care Reform......Page 171
Think Tanks During Health Care Agenda Setting......Page 181
Lessons from Agenda Setting on Health Care......Page 190
Policy Deliberation on Telecommunications......Page 194
Lessons from Deliberation in Telecommunications Reform......Page 208
Policy Enactment on the Tax Cut......Page 210
Concluding Thoughts......Page 215
6 Think Tanks, Experts, and American Politics......Page 218
The Evolution of Think Tanks as Political Institutions......Page 219
Experts, Policy Making, and Political Science......Page 222
The Practical Politics of Think Tanks......Page 224
The Reputation of Experts......Page 230
Expert-Saturated Politics and the Future of Think Tanks......Page 232
Counting Think Tanks......Page 235
Details on the Largest Think Tanks......Page 237
Methodology for Survey of Congressional Staff and Journalists......Page 239
Results from Survey of Congressional Staff and Journalists......Page 243
Coding for the Analysis of Media and Congressional Visibility......Page 245
Appendix B List of In-Depth Interviews......Page 247
Works Cited......Page 253
Index......Page 267