Search Results

The Permanent Campaign and the Permanent Political Class

Ron Formisano

in American Oligarchy: The Permanent Political Class

The permanent campaign “has become increasingly antithetical to governing.”

Think Tanks and the Washington Consensus on Hegemony

Georg Löfflmann

in American Grand Strategy under Obama: Competing Discourses

This chapter investigates the grand strategy proposals by some of the leading think tanks operating in Washington DC, demonstrating how their nominally impartial, and independent research reveals a ... More

This chapter investigates the grand strategy proposals by some of the leading think tanks operating in Washington DC, demonstrating how their nominally impartial, and independent research reveals a dominant, bipartisan neoconservative/liberal-internationalist consensus on hegemony that further underlines the intertextual and practical interconnection between research expertise, professional knowledge and policymaking. The think tanks examined in this chapter were selected to assess those formally independent research outputs with the greatest policy impact under the Obama presidency, while also reflecting the widest range of political views on American grand strategy. The chapter examines how organisations supporting deviant grand strategy discourses of libertarian restraint (Cato) and liberal-progressive cooperative security (CAP) have attempted to shift the public policy debate and how the stigma of isolationism underwrites a powerful status quo in Washington DC.Less

Questioning the Family Cap Evidence

Michael J. Camasso

in Family Caps, Abortion and Women of Color: Research Connection and Political Rejection

This chapter focuses on the response to the Family Cap research. The critical assessment of research methods and findings began in earnest at several Washington-based Think Tanks with the publication ... More

This chapter focuses on the response to the Family Cap research. The critical assessment of research methods and findings began in earnest at several Washington-based Think Tanks with the publication of the final reports. The most stinging critique came from several scholar/researchers based at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). It is through this critique that the author gained an appreciation for the distinction between the tangible and the dismissive approaches to research criticism.Less

Think tanks: bridging beltway and ivory tower?

Sven Jochem

in Policy analysis in Germany

This chapter examines the way in which German think tanks conducted their policy analyses over the past decades – and how successful they have been. On the empirical ground of four case studies it is ... More

This chapter examines the way in which German think tanks conducted their policy analyses over the past decades – and how successful they have been. On the empirical ground of four case studies it is shown that the dualism between academic policy-analyses and applied policy-analyses could be overcome by some think tanks. Some other think tanks, however, changed their strategy towards directly influencing the public debate, thereby successfully employing new media on the internet. It seems plausible to argue that the closer think tanks are coupled with the academic community and the more they depend on public funding, the more it seems to be granted that policy advices are academically substantiated.Less

Who is Fighting the Fight?

J. Scott Carter and Cameron D. Lippard

in The Death of Affirmative Action?: Racialized Framing and the Fight Against Racial Preference in College Admissions

The purpose of this chapter is to assess who are the actors leading the charge for and against affirmative action in the most recent U.S. Supreme Court cases on affirmative action in the 21st ... More

The purpose of this chapter is to assess who are the actors leading the charge for and against affirmative action in the most recent U.S. Supreme Court cases on affirmative action in the 21st century. We are interested in the primary “lobbyist” of the Court during cases dealing with higher education and affirmative action (Gratz/Grutter and Fisher I and II) who make use of amicus briefs to make their cases for and against the policy. Amicus briefs are often described as “friends of the court” because they provide unique information to the court as well as elucidate broader social and political implications of the case's potential decision. However, scholars also argue that such briefs act to lobby the court for a specific resolution. While we look at all variation in authorship (e.g., individuals, civic organizations; universities, etc.), we pay particular attention to advocacy groups who have joined the fight for and against affirmative action in the public arena. Concerning opponents of affirmative action, scholars have stated that the backlash in the U.S. over policies and initiatives associated with the Civil Rights Movement has been led by elite-backed advocacy organizations, including special interest groups and think tanks.Less

Ideology and Institutions

Muhammad Idrees Ahmad

in The Road to Iraq: The Making of a Neoconservative War

This chapter tries to identify the key tenets of neoconservative ideology and how these ideas came to influence policy through the institutional apparatus that the movement developed since the late ... More

This chapter tries to identify the key tenets of neoconservative ideology and how these ideas came to influence policy through the institutional apparatus that the movement developed since the late 1960s.Less