Think Tanks and Foreign Policy: The Foreign Policy Research Institute and Presidential Politics

(Paperback)

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Think tanks have become increasingly important in American politics foreign policy. In the last thirty years think tanks have emerged as major actors on the political stage, comparable in influence to large interest groups, political parties, and government agencies. In the same time span these think tanks have replaced universities as the main source for new policy ideas and the background research and arguments to justify them. This book discusses think tanks in general but focuses specifically on the Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) in Philadelphia. Though a smallish 'tank,' FPRI has been enormously influential, feeding its ideas into government and policy debate even at the level of presidential politics. The author discusses FPRI within the context of the growing influence of presidential politics. The author discusses FPRI within the context of the growing influence of think tanks over public policy in general and foreign policy in particular.

Reviews

Howard Wiarda is the unquestioned expert on the think tank community in the United States. In this study of the Philadelphia-based Foreign Policy Research Institute, Wiarda adds to his past work on the structure, the personalities and the institutional culture of these influential centers of new ideas and new directions that shape the foreign policy process in the United States. With his usual mix of revealing stories and insider analysis, Wiarda provides readers with an unvarnished picture of how think tanks contribute to the making of foreign policy. -- Michael J. Kryzanek, Bridgewater State College

Author Bio

Howard J. Wiarda is Dean Rusk Professor of International Relations and head of the department of international affairs at the University of Georgia. He is the author of The Dutch Diaspora: The Netherlands and Its Settlements in Africa, Asia, and the Americas,Conservative Brain Trust: The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of the American Enterprise Institute, An Introduction to Comparative Politics, The Crisis of American Foreign Policy, and Development on the Periphery: Democracy in Southern and Eastern Europe.