Donald E. Abelson

Last updated

Donald E. Abelson
NationalityCanadian
OccupationProfessor
Academic work
DisciplinePolitical scientist
Sub-disciplinethink tanks
Institutions McMaster University
Main interestsForeign policy in the United States and Canada

Donald E. Abelson is a professor of political science at McMaster University, where he serves as the inaugural academic director of Wilson College of Leadership and Civic Engagement. Abelson has published a number of books and articles dealing with the influence of think tanks on public policy and foreign policy in the United States and Canada. [1] [2] He has been called a "foremost authority on think tanks" in Canada and the United States, [3] and is a regular commentator on his research areas with the CBC and other mass media outlets. [4]

Contents

Career

Abelson, whose focus is on American politics, foreign policy, specifically think tanks, is a professor in McMaster University's Department of Political Science. Previously, he served as Director of UWO's Centre for American Studies. [4]

Abelson was appointed as inaugural Director of the Canada-U.S. Institute on March 25, 2010, for an "initial three-year term." He is the author of several books and is a regular commentator on CBC Radio and other media outlets where he discusses current developments in American politics and Canada-U.S. relations. [4] [5]

Research

Abelson's research has focused on public policy, foreign policy in both Canada and the United States. Think tanks are his specific area of interest.

Think tanks

The influence and number of think tanks increased in the United States in Canada in the 1970s. [6] The mandate of these nonprofit policy research organizations was to produce research and expert analysis to better inform those involved in making public policy. Abelson and others traced how think tanks came to resemble advocacy organizations by promoting ideological perspectives and prescriptive public policy options. In 2012, Abelson described this shift as the emergence of the "advocacy think tank". The Washington Post cited Abelson, who had said that these new think tanks established in Washington, DC "tended to be less scholarly but increasingly political and are more likely to be tied to the fortunes of a party or a wing within a party". [2]

He has examined how think tanks influence public policy and foreign policy in both the United States and Canada. [1] [2] He has been called a "foremost authority on think tanks" in Canada and the United States in the 2013 book Policy Expertise in Contemporary Democracies. [3]

Publications

Abelson is the author of a number of books on foreign policy, think tanks, and political science. [4]

His books include American Think-Tanks and their Role in US Foreign Policy. in 1996, [7] Do Think Tanks Matter? Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes in 2002, [8]

In his 2006 publication A Capitol Idea: Think Tanks and US Foreign Policy , he investigated the way in which American think tanks had "become active and vocal participants in the foreign policy-making process." [4] [9]

In 2002 he co-authored The Myth of the Sacred: The Charter, the Courts, and the politics of the Constitution in Canada with Patrick James and Michael Lusztig. [10]

Commentator

Abelson is invited as a "regular commentator on CBC Radio and other media outlets" on topics such as "current developments in American politics and Canada-U.S. relations". [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Think tank</span> Organization that performs policy research and advocacy

A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmental organizations, but some are semi-autonomous agencies within government, and some are associated with particular political parties, businesses or the military. Think tanks are often funded by individual donations, with many also accepting government grants.

The Project for the New American Century (PNAC) was a neoconservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., that focused on United States foreign policy. It was established as a non-profit educational organization in 1997, and founded by William Kristol and Robert Kagan. PNAC's stated goal was "to promote American global leadership". The organization stated that "American leadership is good both for America and for the world", and sought to build support for "a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Kristol</span> American political writer (born 1952)

William Kristol is an American neoconservative writer. A frequent commentator on several networks including CNN, he was the founder and editor-at-large of the political magazine The Weekly Standard. Kristol is now editor-at-large of the center-right publication The Bulwark and has been the host of Conversations with Bill Kristol, an interview web program, since 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brookings Institution</span> American think tank

The Brookings Institution, often stylized as Brookings, is an American think tank that conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in economics, metropolitan policy, governance, foreign policy, global economy, and economic development.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fraser Institute</span> Canadian public policy think tank

The Fraser Institute is a libertarian-conservative Canadian public policy think tank and registered charity. It is headquartered in Vancouver, with additional offices in Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal. It has links to think tanks worldwide through the Economic Freedom Network and is a member of the free-market Atlas Network.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlas Network</span> Free market American think tank support group

Atlas Network, formerly known as Atlas Economic Research Foundation, is a non-governmental 501(c)(3) organization based in the United States that provides training, networking, and grants for libertarian, free-market, and conservative groups around the world.

The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (WINEP), also known simply as The Washington Institute (TWI), is a pro-Israel American think tank based in Washington, D.C., focused on the foreign policy of the United States in the Near East.

Turkish think tanks are relatively new, but such think tanks provide research and ideas, yet they play less important roles in policy-making when compared with American think tanks. Many of them are sister organizations of a political party or a company. There are very few university think tanks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">C. Fred Bergsten</span> American economist (born 1941)

C. Fred Bergsten is an American economist, author, think tank entrepreneur, and policy adviser. He has served as assistant for international economic affairs to Henry Kissinger within the National Security Council and as assistant secretary for international affairs at the U.S. Department of the Treasury. He was the founding director of the Peterson Institute for International Economics, until 2006 the Institute for International Economics, which he established in 1981 and led through 2012. In addition to his academic work, he has been an influential public commentator and advisor to the American and global economic policy community, writing for influential periodicals such as Foreign Affairs magazine and by writing numerous books.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses</span> Indian think-tank based in New Delhi, India

The Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA) (formerly known as: Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, is India's foremost think tank for advanced research in international relations, especially defence, strategic and security issues, and providing training to civilian, military and paramilitary officers of the Indian government. It is funded by the Indian Ministry of Defence but operates as a non-partisan and autonomous body. It aims to promote national and international security by carrying out research on defence and security-related issues and disseminating the knowledge among the policy-makers and wider public.

Gary James Schmitt is an American political scientist who is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Malcolm Nance</span> American author, former intelligence officer, and terrorism expert (born 1961)

Malcolm Wrightson Nance is an American author and media pundit. He is a former United States Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer specializing in naval cryptology.

Patrick James, is Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, CA, and Director of the USC Center for International Studies.

The Center for the National Interest is a Washington, D.C.-based public policy think tank. It was established by former U.S. President Richard Nixon on January 20, 1994, as the Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom.

The Foreign Policy Initiative (FPI) was an American right-wing think tank that operated from 2009 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RAND Corporation</span> American global policy think tank founded in 1948

The RAND Corporation is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND Corporation engages in research and development (R&D) in a number of fields and industries. Since the 1950s, RAND research has helped inform United States policy decisions on a wide variety of issues, including the space race, the Vietnam War, the U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms confrontation, the creation of the Great Society social welfare programs, and national health care.

The Macdonald–Laurier Institute (MLI) is a public policy think tank located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) (Institute of International Affairs) is an Italian international relations think tank, and non-profit organisation founded in 1965 by Altiero Spinelli. It is ranked among the global top-20 think tanks in the "Foreign Policy and International Relations" category, according to the 2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. Peter Pham</span>

John Peter Pham is an American academic and author specializing in international relations with a focus on African affairs. Pham was the United States Special Envoy for the Sahel Region of Africa, from March 2020 until the end of President Donald Trump's administration in January 2021. Prior to this, he served as the Special Envoy for the Great Lakes Region of Africa from November 2018. Prior to these appointments, Pham was also Vice President of the Atlantic Council and Director of its Africa Center. In September 2020, Pham was accorded the personal rank of ambassador, becoming the first Vietnamese American to achieve that rank. After leaving the Trump administration, Pham rejoined the Atlantic Council as a Distinguished Fellow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canada Strong and Free Network</span> Canadian conservative political advocacy group

The Canada Strong and Free Network based in Calgary, Alberta, is a not-for-profit political advocacy group that was established in 2005 by Preston Manning to promote conservative principles. It was known for the annual "high-profile" Manning Networking Conference (MNC). The Manning Centre operates the for-profit think tank the Manning Foundation, which undertakes some research and analysis, while the Manning Centre self-describes as a "do-tank", that focuses on advocacy, training and networking events for conservatives.

References

  1. 1 2 Kathryn Blaze Carlson (May 6, 2012). "Fraser Institute: Thinking outside the tank". National Post.
  2. 1 2 3 Troy, Tevi (March 15, 2012). "Think tank politics". Washington Post.
  3. 1 2 Brooks, Stephen; Stasiak, Dorota; Zyro, Tomasz (February 28, 2013). Policy Expertise in Contemporary Democracies. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN   978-1-4094-7296-4 . Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "In the News". Centre for American Studies (CAS). April 2, 2011. Archived from the original on April 2, 2011. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  5. Marcus, Steven (February 22, 2015). "'Do you believe in miracles? YES!' ... we did during USA hockey team's run to gold medal". Newsday. Retrieved May 28, 2020.
  6. Rich, Andrew (April 5, 2004). Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise (1 ed.). Cambridge, UK, New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN   978-0-521-83029-4.
  7. Abelson, Donald E. (1996). American Think-Tanks and their Role in US Foreign Policy. Macmillan and St. Martin's Press. ISBN   978-0312128296.
  8. Abelson, Donald E. (2002). Do Think Tanks Matter? Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN   978-0773536081
  9. Abelson, Donald E. (2006). A Capitol Idea: Think Tanks and US Foreign Policy. McGill-Queen's University Press. ISBN   978-0773531154
  10. James, Patrick; Abelson, Donald E.; Lusztig, Michael (May 27, 2003). The Myth of the Sacred: The Charter, the Courts, and the Politics of the Constitution in Canada. Montréal: Mcgill-Queens University Press. ISBN   978-0-7735-2435-4.