A Capitol Idea reveals the extent to which think tanks in the United States have become active and vocal participants in the foreign policy-making process. In this timely exploration, Donald Abelson re-evaluates the role of these complex organizations and looks at how political influence is achieved on Capitol Hill and in the White House. Abelson focuses on a host of high profile think tanks - including the Brookings Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Project for the New American Century - and on the public and private channels they rely on to influence important and controversial...

It is often assumed that think tanks carry enormous weight with lawmakers. In Do Think Tanks Matter? Donald Abelson argues that the basic question of how think tanks have evolved and under what conditions they can and do have an effect is consistently ignored. Think tank directors often credit their institutes with influencing major policy debates and government legislation and many journalists and scholars believe the explosion of think tanks in the latter part of the twentieth century indicates their growing importance in the policy-making process. Abelson goes beyond assumptions,...

Questions about the role and influence of think tanks in matters of foreign policy and geopolitics are both timely and important. The reconfiguration of global power, explosion of social media, shifts away from traditional print and oral-based ways of imparting knowledge, and the dramatic increase in the volume of information and ideas clamoring for the attention of policy-makers are changing the landscape of foreign policy-making and the pathways through which influence is achieved. This book explains the impact of think tanks on the framing of domestic and international conversations on...

Think tanks are often thought of as a uniquely US phenomenon. Although the largest concentration of think tanks is in the United States, they can be found in virtually every country. Often overlooked, Canada s think tanks represent a highly diverse and eclectic group of public policy organizations such as the Canadian Centre for Policy Alernatives, the C.D. Howe Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Mowat Centre among others. In Northern Lights Donald Abelson explores the rise of think tanks in Canada and addresses many of the most commonly asked questions about how, and under what...

Think tanks are often thought of as a uniquely US phenomenon. Although the largest concentration of think tanks is in the United States, they can be found in virtually every country. Often overlooked, Canada s think tanks represent a highly diverse and eclectic group of public policy organizations such as the Canadian Centre for Policy Alernatives, the C.D. Howe Institute, the Fraser Institute, and the Mowat Centre among others. In Northern Lights Donald Abelson explores the rise of think tanks in Canada and addresses many of the most commonly asked questions about how, and under what...

Human migration has reached an unprecedented level, and the numbers are expected to continue growing into the foreseeable future. Host societies and migrants face challenges in ensuring that the benefits of migration accrue to both parties, and that economic and socio-cultural costs are minimized. An insightful comparative examination of the policies and practices that manage and support immigrants to Canada and the United States, Twenty-First-Century Immigration to North America identifies and addresses issues that arose in the early years of the twenty-first century and considers what to...

Human migration has reached an unprecedented level, and the numbers are expected to continue growing into the foreseeable future. Host societies and migrants face challenges in ensuring that the benefits of migration accrue to both parties, and that economic and socio-cultural costs are minimized. An insightful comparative examination of the policies and practices that manage and support immigrants to Canada and the United States, Twenty-First-Century Immigration to North America identifies and addresses issues that arose in the early years of the twenty-first century and considers what to...

Assessing the evolution and influence of public policy institutes.

Assessing the evolution and influence of public policy institutes.