Events Detail

Thursday, February 16 - 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.
Hudson Institute - Betsy and Walter Stern Conference Center
1015 15th Street, NW - Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005

Click here to watch video from this event.

Click here to read a transcript of this event.

Event Description

“Over the past half-century, think tanks have come to play a central role in policy development – and even in the surrounding political combat. Over that period, however, the balance between these two functions – policy development and political combat – has been steadily shifting. Today, while most think tanks continue to serve as homes for some academic-style scholarship regarding public policy, many have also come to play more active (if informal) roles in politics. . . . Every incentive – political, financial, and professional – points toward the further politicization of think tanks.”

So wrote Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Tevi Troy in a recent article in the Winter 2012 issue of National Affairs, arguing that American think tanks are becoming less incubators of thoughtful policy ideas than political combat vehicles.

 

The Bradley Center held an engaging panel discussion on this issue, featuring Neera Tanden of the Center for American Progress; Tevi Troy of Hudson Institute; the Heritage Foundation's Michael Franc; and Will Marshall of the Progressive Policy Institute. Hudson Institute Distinguished Fellow Christopher DeMuth moderated the discussion.

Required Reading

Tevi Troy, "Devaluing the Think Tank", National Affairs, Winter 2012.

Program and Panel

11:30 a.m.
Registration, lunch buffet

12:00 p.m.
Panel discussion
Michael Franc, Heritage Foundation Vice President for Government Studies
Will Marshall, President and Founder of the Progressive Policy Institute
Neera Tanden, President of the Center for American Progress
Tevi Troy, Hudson Institute Senior Fellow
Christopher DeMuth, Hudson Institute Distinguished Fellow and former President of the American Enterprise Institute (Moderator)

1:10
Question-and-answer session

2:00
Adjournment