ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that the evolution of think tanks in central and eastern Europe is essentially different from that of their American forerunners. In eastern Europe, they represent a new strategy for maintaining the liberal agenda. Some of the most respected east European think tanks exist because of their donors, on behalf of their donors, and for the sake of their donors, trapped in a classic vicious circle. The major thesis is that think tanks in central and eastern Europe constitute a break from the politics and influence of liberal intellectuals in the 1980s and early 1990s. The very fact that the institution under investigation is a center for liberal strategies will serve to liberal think tanks in the region. The origin of post-communist think tanks and their political agendas distinguish them from the American model. The rise of think tanks was a reaction to the misplaced ideas of the intellectuals and the arrogance of the technopols.
