Think Tank network Research Initiative

Mapping the networks of Think Tanks in Europe and beyond


Welcome to the Think Tank Network Initiative! Think Tanks have become influential organizations both in expert circles and in public media. Policy related expertise and consulting continues to be in high demand due to the growing complexity of policy making at regional, national and international levels. Social scientific research on think tanks at the same time remains underdeveloped, and is not currently up to the task of adequately capturing and explaining the think tank phenomenon. Several projects have been designed to observe and analyze think tanks, including the go-to-think-tank ranking and the database of On think tanks. The Think Tank Network Initiative was founded to specifically apply a think tank network perspective both with regard to individual think tanks and to national and transnational networks of think tanks and other organizations.

In addition to becoming a home for a wide range of comparative think tank network studies we also aim to advance the discussion on the legal foundations of, and other rules and regulations for think tanks. The Think Tank Network Initiative advocates comprehensive transparency rules for all think tanks and related not-for-profit organizations due to their increasing role in lobbying efforts, policy network, and the public spheres at large. The need for greater think tank transparency is particularly important in order to improve the conditions for think tank studies. In conjunction with investigative journalism critical think tank research can provide for a better understanding of think tank networks, protect against misinformation and manipulation, and support informed citizen participation and democratic policy making.In addition to publishing ongoing own research and data on think tank networks we provide space for think tank research projects who want to use this database and provide additional value by way of merging think tank data.


New Projects

THINKClima

THINKClima is a research project on think tanks in Europe that deny anthropogenic global warming and oppose climate change related efforts to limit global warming. THINKClima has collected extensive data on a group of European think tanks. More information on the project can be obtained at the ThinkClima website and project publications. We present ThinkClima data as a collection within the framework of this database, which offers additional information on the organizations examined by the ThinkClima team. You can access the enhanced ThinkClima collection here:

ThinkClima data collection



think tank denial organisations in Europe
Infogram


The THINKClima Project is funded by Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) under grant CSO2016-78421-R.