Soft power in global governance: fsQCA of thematic specialization strategies of European think tanks
| Published date | 01 May 2023 |
| Author | Vanessa Roger‐Monzó,Fernando Castelló‐Sirvent |
| Date | 01 May 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1758-5899.13207 |
288
|
Global Policy. 2023;14:288–304.wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/gpol
1 | THINK TANKS IN CONTEXT
Think tanks are organizations designed to generate
and disseminate ideas and research to advise the po-
litical elite in the formulation of public polic ies (McGann
& Weaver,2000; Stone & Denham,2004) and influence
the different actors that operate in decision- making
processes (McGann & Johnson,2005). In recent years,
they have been consolidated as new political elements
with a great social, political and communicative pres-
ence (Castillo- Esparcia et al., 2017 ). These entities
stand as instruments of soft power, since this concept
has been used to refer to policies aimed at influencing
social and public opinion (Pallin & Oxenstierna,2017 ).
Studies on the process of elaboration of the political
agenda based on the influence of think tanks have in-
creased since the beginning of the twenty- first century
(Abelson,2006; Garcé,2009; Stone & Denham,2004).
Several studies highlight that experts and academ-
ics, political parties, actors from non- governmental
organizations, companies and the media participate
in the production of knowledge about public policies
(Plehwe et al.,2018). For this reason, it is necessary
for the research to contemplate the instrumentality of
think tanks, expressed as the “marketing of knowl-
edge” (Stone,2007). Through the media, these entities
shape the imaginary of public opinion (Marsh,2020;
Mendizabal,2021). The soft power deployed by think
tanks has contributed to the creation of narratives that
can promote consensus and policies favourable to
global elites that have even undermined the democratic
principles on which they are based (Almiron,2017). For
this reason, it is considered relevant to analyse the
theming strategies of think tanks.
Presence in the media is a necessity for think tanks,
which adapt their strategies to this objective. The main
strategy of think tanks to influence political decisions is
to boost their presence in the media (Kelstrup,20 17). To
increase their media impact, the Spanish think tanks'
strategy uses specialization in a cert ain thematic area to
become a source of reference for public opinio n (Lalueza
& Girona,2016). The higher the level of specializatio n of
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Soft power in global governance: fsQCA of thematic
specialization strategies of European think tanks
VanessaRoger- Monzó1 | FernandoCastelló- Sirvent2,3
Received: 2 Septe mber 2022
|
Revis ed: 17 March 2023
|
Acce pted: 20 March 2023
DO I: 10 .1111/17 58- 589 9.13 207
This is an open ac cess article under t he terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction
in any medium, prov ided the original work i s properly cited and is not u sed for commercial pur poses.
© 2023 The Authors . Global Policy published by Durham Universi ty and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
1Department of L anguage Theory
and Communication Sciences,
Faculty of Philology, Translation and
Communicati on, Universitat de Valènc ia,
46010 Valencia, Spain
2Department o f Business and Finance,
ESIC Business & Ma rketing School,
46021 Valencia, Spain
3Department of Business Management,
Universitat Poli tècnica de València, 4 6022
Valencia, Spain
Correspondence
Vanessa Roger- Monzó, Department of
Language Theory and Communication
Sciences, Faculty of Philology, Translation
and Communic ation, Universitat de
València, 46010 Valencia, Spain.
Email: vanessa.roger@uv.es
Abstract
This article analyzes the strategies designed after the Great Financial Crisis
(GFC) by European think tanks specialized in economic policy and evaluates
the main issues that served to boost their capacity for international influence
between 2009 and 2018. It studies the 19 European think tanks in the economic
policy category highlighted by the 2018 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.
91,393 news items published on the think tanks evaluated during the decade
after the GFC are analysed and a causal model is proposed to understand the
thematic specialization strategies of think tanks in the media sphere. The model
includes economic and media diffusion attributes and was tested using Fuzzy
Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The results confirm that the main
areas of specialization of economic policy think tanks include emerging issues
related to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The stability of the Eurozone is a cross- cutting issue that is integrated into the
internal policy discourse. The solution to the proposed model reveals five strate-
gies followed by European think tanks.
|
289
SOFT POWER IN GLOBAL GOVER NANCE
Spanish think tanks, the greater their ability to influence
during the political process, especially in the adoption
of political decisions (Barberà & Arregui,2 011). These
think tank can be based on high specialization, focusing
on a reduced number of issues or, on the contrary, pro-
posing solutions for different areas that make it possibl e
to overcome the consequences of the economic crisis
(Lalueza & Girona,2016).
There are other communication strategies designed
to increase the visibility of Spanish think tanks in the
media. For example, access the media that periodi cally
disseminate the results of their studies, especially if
there is an ideological affinit y (Lalueza & Girona,2016).
Previous research in the field of study has evaluated
different perspectives such as the ideological repre-
sentation of think tanks in a single medium (Lewis &
Cushion,2019), the trade- off between strategy/decision-
making over time (González- Hernando et al.,2018) or
the construction of dominant counter- frames concern-
ing climate change (Almiron et al.,2020). This explor-
atory empirical study makes it possible to analyse and
evaluate the behaviour patterns of European think
tanks specialized in economic policy.
Based on the bibliography on the subject, the follow-
ing research question is posed: What were the special-
ization strategies of European economic policy think
tanks during the GFC?
To answer this question, the objective is to examine
the differential thematic patterns and the specialization
strategies of European economic policy think tanks
during the period analysed. To this end, four research
objectives are established:
1. Identify the main topics with which the analysed
think tanks were projected in the media during
the period 2009– 2018.
2. Evaluate the main thematic differences between the
think tanks under study.
3. Formulate a model to improve understanding of think
tanks' thematic specialization strategies.
4. Test the proposed model to ensure its robustness
and internal reliability.
Discussion of the results of this study allows schol-
ars to improve their understanding of how think tanks
articulate their influence strategies. The study findings
show promising lines of inquiry for academics to de-
velop new theoretical approaches and practitioners to
improve their performance.
As reported, the dominant themes are analysed ac-
cording to their media representation. The specializa-
tion strategies of European economic policy t hink tanks
were analysed during the decade after the 2008 finan-
cial crisis using a model that was tested with Fuzzy- Set
Comparative Qualitative Analysis (fsQCA). This meth-
odology has also been used in research focused on
media coverage (Brüggemann & Königslöw,2013).
The database of this study includes the main
European think tanks (n = 19) included in the interna-
tional economic policy categor y of the 2018 Global
Go To Think Tank Index Report (McGann, 2019). The
period analysed includes the debate aroused in pub-
lic opinion because of Brexit and the promotion of the
2030 Agenda.
2 | STATE- OF- THE- ART,
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
AND PROPOSITIONS
Think tanks present a strong heterogeneity that has
generated many definitions to explain their character-
istics and functions (Abelson,2 012; Medvetz, 2008).
McGann and Weaver (2000) define them as non-
governmental and non- profit organizations, dedicated
to research, with organizational independen ce from the
Policy Implications
• After the Great Financial Crisis (GFC),
European economic policy think tanks de-
signed differentiated thematic specialization
strategies. Think tanks should take advan-
tage of strategic options based on the eco-
nomic attributes of the country in which each
think tank is located.
• The media representation strategies of
think tanks differentiate the British, Central
European and other peripheral countries ar-
chetypes. Think tank managers must guide
their strategies based on cultural archetypes
and traditions.
• The main topics of think tanks in the media
were linked to the Euro Crisis and the 2030
Agenda. The new global disruptions dr ive the
heterogeneity of think tanks and manage-
ment teams should design mechanisms to
adapt to change.
• The SDGs focused on non- poverty and cli-
mate action have a lot of impact. The Top
Management Team (TMT) of think tanks can
take advantage of the new mainstream narra-
tives to improve and boost their projection in
the media agenda.
• Climate change constitutes a relevant anal-
ysis in new research trends, sustainable
corporate strategies and new product devel-
opment. Think tanks and their strategy de-
sign nuclei should align their positioning on
the public agenda with the SDGs and ESG
criteria.
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