'Think tanks, policy advice and depoliticisation', Professor Diane Stone

4 November 2021, 11.00 AM - 4 November 2021, 12.30 PM

Diane Stone, Professor at the School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute, Florence

Online event

Organised by CUPPR and MSc Public Policy

This lecture will focus on the evolution of the think tank over time and across different countries.

Think tanks have proliferated within many countries over the past 50 years. Today, these organizations are thought to number up to 8,000 world-wide. This seminar will focus on the evolution of the think tank organizational form over time and across different countries. With their origins in western liberal democracies – hence, usually established as independent civil society actors in that context – the think tank organizational form has now spread and proliferated in undemocratic and semi-democratic contexts. Different styles and strategies have been adopted to inform the decision-making processes of national (or sub-national) governments.

Concurrently, think tank networking has become extensive and intensive as many of these organizations have transnationalized their activities. Some think tanks have become prominent players in global and regional governance or have forged partnerships with international organizations. As a result, think tank influence (or lack of it) and the modes of their impact (and with whom or what) vary dramatically. Nevertheless, one commonly occurring theme in how they have sought to legitimize their input into policy is a tactic of de-politicization of their expertise whereby the ambition of many think tanks is to ‘bridge research and policy’.

Speaker's Biography:

Diane Stone is a Professor at the School of Transnational Governance, European University Institute, Florence. Previously, she was Dean of the School of Public Policy at Central European University in Budapest and Vienna. Prior to her return to Europe, she was Centenary Professor in the Institute of Governance and Policy Analysis at the University of Canberra and has held positions earlier at other Australian universities and at Warwick University.

Professor Stone was a founding member of the International Public Policy Association, and she is a Vice President of IPPA. Until last year, she was Consulting Editor of the journal, ‘Policy & Politics’ and she was co-editor of 'Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Institutions'.

She worked at the World Bank Institute and has held board positions with the Global Development Network and the Overseas Development Institute. Diane’s research interests include the influence of ideas and expertise on policy, the political economy of higher education; the ‘new diplomacy’; the study of policy networks; international philanthropy; policy transfer and translation; think tanks and policy advice. Her latest book is Open Access ‘Making Global Policy’ with Cambridge University Press.

Click here to register for the event

Debates in Public Policy Seminar series:

The Debates in Public Policy Seminars (DIPPS) provide a forum for discussion, debate and exchange of ideas about issues relevant to public policy locally, nationally and internationally. Invited speakers include policy professionals, academics and activists from across the globe who will address and engage with key policy concerns and debates. DIPPS is organised and supported by the Centre for Urban and Public Policy Research (CUPPR) and the MSc Public Policy programme in the School for Policy Studies, University of Bristol. There are two seminars per year in November and May.

The series is organised by Patricia Kennett, David Sweeting, and Caryn Peiffer.

 

 
 

 

 

'Think tanks, policy advice and depoliticisation', Professor Diane Stone - 4 Nov 2021

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