| Abstract: | Over the past two decades there has been considerable growth of think tanks not only in the United States, but also in Britain and Australia. The new breed operates in a markedly different style from the older institutions which were more inclined toward disinterested policy research. Today, policy institutes are more likely to be engaged in the ideologically partisan marketing of ideas. This paper classifies independent public policy institutes in order to assess their differing features across political systems and over time. It also proposes a number of avenues for further analysis of what is an underdeveloped field of study. |
