International Conference: What Do Think Tanks Do?

	Event Date(s): 5/14/2011 - 5/15/2011
	Date Published: 4/13/2011	Last Updated: 2/1/2012
	Category: Events

International Conference on Think Tanks at IDI, May 2011

On Sunday and Monday, May 15–16, 2011, IDI hosted an international conference focusing on the nature of think tanks and their role in society. Entitled "What Do Think Tanks Do?" and conducted under the auspices of IDI's Renewing the Social Contract project, this event brought together leading scholars from Israel and abroad and was conducted in English.

This event was broadcast live on the IDI website. Watch it on the IDI Youtube channel.

Conference Rationale: "Think Tanks and Their Impact on Policy" by Dr. Karmit Haber

"What Do Think Tanks Do?" Book of Abstracts and Participants

Full Program

WHAT DO THINK TANKS DO?
International Conference
May 15 – 16, 2011

Academic Supervisor:
Prof. Tamar Hermann
IDI Senior Research Fellow and Academic Director of The Guttman Center

Day 1 – Sunday, May 15, 2011
9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.	Greetings and Introductions
10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.	Session 1: The Concept, Role and Types of Think Tanks The raison d’etre of think tanks; Think tanks as political actors in democracies; Types of think tanks; Advocacy vs. research; Think tank “audiences”; The “field” of think tanks – patterns of competition and/or collaboration; Changes in the role and functioning of think tanks in the era of globalization. Chairperson: Dr. Jesse Ferris, Vice President, Strategy, IDI, Israel Prof. Donald Abelson, Director, Canada-US Institute, University of Western Ontario, Canada See the presentation that accompanied this talk Prof. James G. McGann, Assistant Director, IR Program and Director, Think Tanks and Civil Societies, University of Pennsylvania, USA Mr. Gidi Grinstein, President, The Reut Institute, Israel See the presentation that accompanied this talk Watch this session
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.	Lunch
2:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.	Session 2: Knowledge Production by Think Tanks Types of knowledge produced and disseminated by think tanks (as compared to knowledge produced by research institutes, universities, or the media); Quality insurance mechanisms; The producers; Fund-raising and knowledge-producing agenda settings; The option of consulting to foreign states. Chairperson: Dr. Shirley Avrami, Knesset Research and Information Center, Israel Dr. Sarit Bensimhon-Peleg, Hartog School of Government and Policy, Tel Aviv University, Israel Prof. Eran Razin, Head, Floersheimer Studies, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Prof. Gabriel Motzkin, Director, The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute Mr. Daniel S. Gaylin, Executive Vice President, National Opinion Research Center (NORC), USA See the presentation that accompanied this talk Watch this session
6:00 p.m.	Departure for dinner

Day 2 – Monday, May 16, 2011
9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.	Session 3: Between Political Neutrality and Commitment/Affiliation Is political neutrality an option for think tanks?; Neutrality vs. objectivity; The difference between being political and being partisan; How think tanks can deal with the tension between advocacy and research; Should think tanks come forward with a specific agenda and/or address the general public when critical national decisions are contemplated and made? Chairperson: Dr. Arye Carmon, President, IDI, Israel Mr. Steven Bennett, Vice President and COO, The Brookings Institution, USA Dr. Barbara Lippert, Director of Research, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Germany Prof. Efraim Inbar, The Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies (BESA), Bar-Ilan University, Israel Prof. Yaacov Bar-Siman-Tov, Head, The Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies, Israel Mr. Arch Puddington, Director of Research, Freedom House, USA Watch this session.
12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.	Lunch
2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.	Session 4: The Impact of Think Tanks on Local and National Policymaking and Mechanisms for Impact Assessment How and when do think tanks affect decision making?; What is legitimate and what is not legitimate in a democratic context when trying to gain influence over the decision making process?; Who are the main targets for exerting influence?; What are the main means used by think tanks for exerting political influence?; Assessing the effects of think tanks on policy making. Chairperson: Prof. Donald Abelson, Director, Canada-US Institute, University of Western Ontario, Canada Ms. Ayşe Üstünel Yircali, Executive Coordinator, The Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV), Turkey Dr. Oded Eran, Director, The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Israel Dr. Dan Schueftan, Director, National Security Studies Center, University of Haifa, Israel Prof. David Ricci, Department of Political Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Watch this session.
5:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.	Closing remarks