In the shadow of the state: Think tanks and foreign policy in Latin America

Abstract

This paper analyzes the role of think tanks as members of civil society in Latin America. Our goal is to present an initial conceptualization and measurement of the role think tanks play in the foreign policy sub-subsystem. We focus on three of the most influential think tanks in the region: CARI (Argentina), CEBRI (Brazil), and COMEXI (Mexico). This paper suggests that the state's characteristics and the character of its civil society determine the type and strength of its think tanks. This paper also considers the challenges that think tanks face in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico more generally by comparing each chosen think tank's board, public activities, presence in local media and social media, and publications. We conclude that there have yet to be significant incentives and resources available for thinks tanks in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico to grow and, thus, Latin American think tanks' activities typically follow their governments' agendas.

Policy Analysis and Think Tanks in Comparative Perspective

“…A number of Latin American countries, such as Argentina, Peru, and Chile, also have a healthy population of research institutes; many are affiliated with universities, and have had a new breath of life with democratization in the region. A similar trend of specialization has occurred: alongside those organizations focusing on national social and economic policies (see Garce & Una, 2010), there are a number of foreign policy think tanks (see Merke & Pauselli, 2015). Independent, Western-style think tanks in the former Soviet Union appeared after 1989 but the bureaucratic legacy of the old, if impoverished, Soviet-style Academies of Science loomed for a couple of decades.…”

Research on the Development of Local Think Tanks in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area—A Survey and Analysis based on the Construction of Think Tanks in Guangdong Province

“…They are focusing on three of the most influential think tanks in the region: the CARI (Argentina), CEBRI (Brazil) and COMEXI (Mexico). It argues that the characteristics of the country and the nature of its civil society determine the type and strength of its think tanks [3].…”

The nexus between the Baltic governments and think tanks as instruments of foreign and security policy

“…Central and Eastern European TTs (those of Poland, Ukraine, Belarus, and Czech Republic) have also been analysed (Jezierska and Giusti, 2020). TT research now provides specific attention to emerging powers such as China (McGann, 2019), and other regions such as Latin America (Merke and Pauselli, 2015) and Africa (Mbadlanyana et al, 2011). However, only a few scholars have dedicated more attention to the Baltic states (Boucher, 2004;Boyd, 2017).…”