Welcome to Origin Story and part two of the story of think tanks. Last time we traced the history of two very different varieties: the non-partisan centre for research and policy development and the handsomely-funded vehicle for a political ideology. Now we explain how they shape politics today.

In the first half of the show we follow the partisan think tanks into the 21st century with the Koch network’s war on Obama, the Heritage Foundation’s MAGA makeover, the IEA’s role in the Liz Truss catastrophe and the depressing devolution of centre-right think tanks. At the centre of the British story is 55 Tufton Street, the notorious building where climate change deniers cross paths with Eurosceptics and the distinction between think tanks and lobby groups all but collapses. Nice work if you can get it.

Then we explain how the more independent-minded think tanks make an essential contribution to developing and analysing policies, keeping alive the original ideal of politically neutral expertise. So what do we talk about when we talk about think tanks?

What’s the deal with Tufton Street and why are its denizens always on TV? Where is the money coming from? How has Trump transformed the balance of power among US think tanks? What role have these groups played in the radicalisation of conservatism over the past decade? How do the independent think tanks — more important but far less discussed — try to make politicians better informed and more effective? Ultimately, how influential are think tanks really?

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Reading list

Books

• Richard Cockett – Thinking the Unthinkable: Think-Tanks and the Economic Counter- Revolution 1931-1983 (1994)

• Paul Dickson – Think Tanks (1972)

• Sharon Ghamari-Tabrizi – The Worlds of Herman Kahn: The Intuitive Science of Thermonuclear War (2005)

• F.A. Hayek – The Road to Serfdom (Reader’s Digest abridged version) (1945)

• Jane Mayer – Dark Money: How a Secretive Group of Billionaires Is Trying to Buy Political Control in the US (2016)

• Thomas Medvetz – Think Tanks in America (2014)

• Madsen Pirie – Think Tank: The Story of the Adam Smith Institute (2012)

• James A. Smith – The Idea Brokers: Think Tanks and the Rise of the New Policy Elite (1991)

Articles

• Dr James Barham – ‘Top Influential Think Tanks Ranked for 2024’, Academic Influence (16

October 2023)

• Tom Bawden – ‘The address where Eurosceptics and climate change sceptics rub shoulders’, Independent (10 February 2016)

• Chloe Farand – ‘Mapped: Whistleblower Accuses Nine Organisations of Colluding Over Hard Brexit’, DeSmog (23 July 2018)

• Richard Fink – ‘Structure of Social Change’, Philanthropy Magazine (Winter 1996)

• F. A. Hayek – ‘The Intellectuals and Socialism’, University of Chicago Law Review (Spring 1949)

• Richard Kostelanetz – ‘One-Man Think Tank’, New York Times (1 December 1968)

• Jane Mayer – ‘Covert Operations’, New Yorker (23 August 2010)

• Jane Mayer – ‘Is IKEA the New Model for the Conservative Movement?’, New Yorker (15 November 2013)

• James G. McGann, ‘2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report’, University of Pennsylvania, Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program (28 January 2021)

• Louis Menand – ‘Fat Man’, New Yorker (20 June 2005)

• George Monbiot – ‘Number 10 and the secretly funded lobby groups intent on undermining democracy’, Guardian (1 September 2020)

• New York Times staff – ‘49 Scholars Hold Man Up to Mirror’, New York Times (21 September 1958)

• David Perlman – ‘Man’s Actions Challenge a Braintrust’, San Francisco Chronicle (23 March 1958)

Written and presented by Ian Dunt and Dorian Lynskey. Producer: Simon Williams. Music by Jade Bailey. Art by Jim Parrett. Logo by Mischa Welsh. Group Editor: Andrew Harrison. Origin Story is a Podmasters production

www.podmasters.co.uk

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