Abstract
There is demand for more in-depth knowledge about the strategies, which think tanks employ to influence EU policy-making. The strategies of the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) are explored based on desktop research and interviews with practitioners. The two think tanks have drawn on strategic advice through their concern about assuring quality, independence, transparency, integrity, and last but not least resources. Whereas CEPS has been hesitant to make large-scale changes to its core strategies, the ECDPM has introduced a sound strategy paper 2017–2021. This challenges the idea of a one-size-fits-all template for think tank strategies. While theoretical recommendations may be used in practice, strategic consideration from practitioners might also inspire and nuance advice for successful think tank strategies in the EU and beyond.
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Notes
- 1.
The Open Europe think tank is of a moderately Eurosceptic persuasion but took a “neutral” position in the referendum campaign.
- 2.
The European Political Strategy Centre (EPSC) is the European Commission’s in-house think tank, established in November 2014 by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and operating directly under his authority. In January 2017, the EPSC was awarded the title of “Best New Think Tank 2016” by the authoritative Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (TTCSP) of the University of Pennsylvania, in its prestigious “2016 Global Go To Think Tank Index,” which charts 6846 think tanks on the basis of a survey conducted among over 4750 journalists, policy-makers, think tankers, and donors from all over the world (McGann 2017).
- 3.
- 4.
- 5.
The African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP) is an organization created by the Georgetown Agreement in 1975. It is composed of 79 African, Caribbean, and Pacific states, with all of them save Cuba, signatories to the Cotonou Agreement, also known as the “ACP-EC Partnership Agreement” which binds them to the European Union. There are 48 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, 16 from the Caribbean, and 15 from the Pacific.
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For instance, the Spanish EU foreign policy think tank FRIDE closed its Brussels office in December 2015 citing financial reasons.
- 7.
In 2002, during the constitutional Convention on the Future of Europe, the European Policy Institutes Network (EPIN) was founded on the initiative of CEPS with the purpose of integrating EU’s national think tank landscape and of applying collectively for EU funds (BEPA 2012, 10). Today EPIN comprises 37 think tanks from 26 countries including member states and candidate countries, coordinated by CEPS.
- 8.
https://www.ceps.eu/content/ceps-ideas-lab. Accessed 7 August 2017
- 9.
Resolution 70/1. “Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015
- 10.
“Transparify” is a platform contributing to debate about think tanks’ role in evidence-based policy-making by assessing their levels of financial transparency.
- 11.
The African Union (AU) is consisting of all 55 countries on the African continent. It was established on 26 May 2001 and officially launched on 9 July 2002 in South Africa with the aim of replacing the Organization of African Unity (OAU).
- 12.
Hence, the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) was the first transnational think tank network to be founded in 1974. Ever since TEPSA has steadily increased currently consisting of 33 members located in 29 countries. With its decentralized approach, TEPSA exemplifies the “bottom-up” approach to European governance (BEPA 2012, 10).
- 13.
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Kelstrup, J.D., Dialer, D. (2019). EU Think Tank Lobbying Strategies: Between Theoretical Advice and Practice. In: Dialer, D., Richter, M. (eds) Lobbying in the European Union. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98800-9_33
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