Comments on: What is a think tank?

By: Jon

Jon — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:38:12 +0000

Which is precisely why we need to get this right in Brussels – where the party political lines are far less clear, and public accountability it weaker.

By: Corina Murafa

Corina Murafa — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 21:35:42 +0000

Well John, that’s certainly a very European perspective. If you cross the Atlantic, the European fanaticism for objectivity doesn’t stand. People have beliefs and opinions, institutions likewise. All research has, besides a methodology, some theoretical ground. And that is definitely biased. And so it should be. Everybody on the Capitol Hill knows which think tank supports what party. And that’s perfectly natural and acceptable, without anybody complaining of any behind the curtain arrangements.

By: Erik Wesselius

Erik Wesselius — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:52:22 +0000

A few years ago at Corporate Europe Observatory we conducted a survey of think tanks and our conclusion still stands. Even when some of the bigger think tanks provide transparency on their income sources, many of the smaller Brussels think tanks persist in funding secrecy.

By: Marko

Marko — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:26:41 +0000

There’s a good review and attempt to map the think tank work done by Notre Europe: http://www.notre-europe.eu/uploads/tx_publication/Etud35-en.pdf

By: Jon

Jon — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 14:03:24 +0000

I think the latter is a bit tough – EPC is trying to position itself in the same way as Bruegel (i.e. as a serious think tank) but has chosen a different route. I genuinely don’t know what the right route is – I can quite understand why Bruegel does not want to be on a lobby register, but openness is also really vital, so EPC is being honest in some way too.

Is a think tank register the solution? Not sure…

By: Waldo

Waldo — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:57:16 +0000

If you are looking for a definition of a think tank, then I would refer to Stanley Crossick’s article http://crossick.blogactiv.eu/2009/01/27/brussels-needs-more-strategic-thinking/

However, you are more commentating on the poltitical role of think tanks. In this respect I believe your article would benefit from framing their role in other political systems and taking position vis à vis transparancy requirements.

First of all, think tanks can be found everywhere. It is an ancient tradition in Europe and has more modern and powerful versions in the US. An interesting thing to note is also that every political party has it’s own ‘think tank’, which serves to determine the long and short-term policy direction of the party.

And secondly Jon, I believe you should take a stance for transparancy. At the one hand you comment that some think tanks haven’t registered for the European Commission’s voluntary Register of interest representative and at the other hand you frame it is a negative point for the EPC: ‘as it is registered, so it must be a lobby organisation’, so the reader can interpret. On a sidenote, the EPC also completely discloses funding arrangements: http://www.epc.eu/en/mb.asp?TYP=Membership&LV=283&PG=MB/en/direct_in&AI=5&see=y

By: Central Scrutiniser

Central Scrutiniser — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:26:09 +0000

I can vote and/or I can contribute money to a think-tank-policy-institute-bus-campaign.

But who can I trust?

By: Jack Thurston

Jack Thurston — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:00:53 +0000

… and yes, when it comes to funding, there is a powerful whiff of hypocrisy from Open Europe. It frequently runs campaigns calling for more transparency in EU budgets but refuses to publish any information about its own funding. Does anyone know who does fund Open Europe?