ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book outlines that development of think tanks in Europe has been shaped in interplay between a Continental and the Anglo-American think tank traditions. It develops a typology of think tanks that distinguishes between four types of think tanks referred to as publicly funded research institutes, party-affiliated, policy and advocacy think tanks. By making think tank types the dependent variable, the book distinguishes itself from many studies of think tanks that focus on the influence that think tanks produce and conceive of think tanks as independent variables. Although think tanks have attracted increased political and academic attention in recent years, academics take interest in think tanks for different reasons and with different normative orientations. The rise of think tanks may change the demand for academic social science. Think tanks are also shaped by endogenous forces in the polities in which they operate.
