ABSTRACT

This chapter offers an explanatory framework that can contribute to a better understanding of why these think tank models have pursued such divergent trajectories. It considers the implications that these explanatory factors have for the think tank environments in the US and the EU. The chapter argues that supranational think tanks have evolved in response to the EU's institutional and constitutional receptiveness to civil society actors, whereas American think tanks have necessarily been obligated to validate their legitimacy and credibility. When discussing the impact of the respective institutional arrangements on both American and supranational think tanks, it is clear that neither the US nor the EU institutional layout is prohibitive or even inhospitable for think tanks to exercise an impact on policymaking and broader public policy discussions. The principal implication revealed from considerations of 'how' and 'why' American and supranational think tanks differ surrounds the centrality of promulgating original policy solutions.