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Ideas versus Expertise: Think Tanks and the Organizations of Information in American Policymaking
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WORK-IN-PROGRESS
means that their research is a means to a more important end: the promotion and ascendance of conservative political ideas. Conservatives appreciate the power of ideas. Liberals, by contrast, are typically committed to notions of the “disinterested expert” and in the pragmatic value of rigorous, objective, well-designed policy research. For liberals, policy research is the appropriate end product for think tanks, a product with independent value.
At the same time as there are differences in how conservatives and liberals view
the relative importance of ideas versus expertise, there are additional differences – rooted in ideologies – in how each organizes the production and dissemination of both at think tanks. Conservatives are both hierarchical and entrepreneurial in their approach. The promotion of ideas requires a highly coordinated strategy of marketing and communications. For liberals, the dissemination of expertise can follow two different – and not always compatible – approaches. “Pragmatic liberals” place their confidence in the disinterested expert housed at think tanks. They are committed to the view that it is someone else’s job to disseminate and promote research, certainly not that of the researcher. Good research will find its own audience, and if it requires promotion, that work will be done by others, perhaps by policymakers convinced by the merits of the research.
Another approach for liberals is that of the “progressive activist.” For the
progressive activist, research actually poses an irritating dilemma because for the progressive activist, political change should originate and resonate from grassroots citizen-based constituencies – not (elite) researchers. This view rejects the legitimacy of the power of experts in politics as anti-democratic. Unlike on the right, where hierarchical and entrepreneurial approaches to think tank organizing are compatible, there is a tension between these two visions of organization on the left, which presents added problems for liberals trying to win battles in American policymaking.
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WORK-IN-PROGRESS
means that their research is a means to a more important end: the promotion and
ascendance of conservative political ideas. Conservatives appreciate the power of ideas.
Liberals, by contrast, are typically committed to notions of the “disinterested expert” and
in the pragmatic value of rigorous, objective, well-designed policy research. For liberals,
policy research is the appropriate end product for think tanks, a product with independent
value.
At the same time as there are differences in how conservatives and liberals view
the relative importance of ideas versus expertise, there are additional differences – rooted
in ideologies – in how each organizes the production and dissemination of both at think
tanks. Conservatives are both hierarchical and entrepreneurial in their approach. The
promotion of ideas requires a highly coordinated strategy of marketing and
communications. For liberals, the dissemination of expertise can follow two different –
and not always compatible – approaches. “Pragmatic liberals” place their confidence in
the disinterested expert housed at think tanks. They are committed to the view that it is
someone else’s job to disseminate and promote research, certainly not that of the
researcher. Good research will find its own audience, and if it requires promotion, that
work will be done by others, perhaps by policymakers convinced by the merits of the
research.
Another approach for liberals is that of the “progressive activist.” For the
progressive activist, research actually poses an irritating dilemma because for the
progressive activist, political change should originate and resonate from grassroots
citizen-based constituencies – not (elite) researchers. This view rejects the legitimacy of
the power of experts in politics as anti-democratic. Unlike on the right, where
hierarchical and entrepreneurial approaches to think tank organizing are compatible, there
is a tension between these two visions of organization on the left, which presents added
problems for liberals trying to win battles in American policymaking.
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