The role of advocacy think tanks

This chapter examines how advocacy think tanks emerged as policy-driven research groups that attempt to influence public policy through their strategic positioning in political and ideological niches. It discusses the key theoretical approaches used to understand think tanks and their roles within broader political communities. Through the examples of Tax Freedom Day and Earth Overshoot Day, the chapter illustrates how these organisations blend research with ideology in the hopes of shaping public opinion and policy. It also highlights the importance of institutional arrangements and the niches that enable advocacy tanks to thrive and intervene in the war of ideas through a circuitry of actors and vectors that can relay or assimilate their ideas.