Think Tanks and Global Politics

This text provides a cutting edge analysis of the increasingly central role think tanks play in societies worldwide. Examining their control of global resources both in economic and political policy fields and their inroads into structures of power, it addresses key questions. How have think thanks reached these positions of power? Has the northern core produced neoliberal clones that have hydra-like colonised the globe? Who funds and controls these think tanks and for what purpose? How is policy making knowledge created? How are new policy ideas propagated and validated? How do think tanks become dominant sources of knowledge in public spheres including the media? Exploring the dynamics of think tank networks in specific regions and countries, this book considers the coalitions they generate to advance the social purpose they endorse and, in particular, the spaces they occupy in the structures and fields of power at the national, regional and global level.

Alejandra Salas-Porras is Professor at the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her professional experience has concentrated in the academic sphere, combining teaching and research activities. Her lines of interest revolve around the following topics: Elites and development on the national, regional and global levels; the Political economy of development and Business and corporate networks  Georgina Murray is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia.She has research interests in areas of political economy that include networks of corporate capitalism, work, gender, and social inequality and its relationship to neuroscience. Her books include Capitalist Networks and Social Power in Australia and New Zealand (2006), Women of the Coal Rushes (2010) and Financial Elites and Transnational Business: Who Rules the World? (2012).