Think Tanks in an Authoritarian Moment

Mark Schmitt wrote for The Democracy Journal on the role of think tanks in an age of authoritarianism.

First, and in the near term, of course, the bread-and-butter work of think tanks can provide the kind of analysis that helps show the dangers of Trump’s policies, such as the enormous transfer of wealth from the working class to the very wealthy in the Trump tax policy bill, or the cost in human lives of shutting down the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). This news may not break through to the legislators or policymakers currently in power, but eventually it shapes public and elite opinion and might ensure that there are consequences for the most dangerous and irresponsible policies.

But the more relevant capacity that some think tanks have is to focus on the future, on mid- and long-term possibilities. There is a need for organizations such as Democracy Forward and Indivisible that respond with the urgency that Trump’s executive orders require, filing overnight lawsuits or organizing mass protests; but there is also a place for those who can see past the authoritarian moment and construct a clear vision for—and the mechanisms to rebuild—a system that is both democratically responsive and committed to human dignity.