The role of think-tanks in the EU policy process remains largely uncharted territory for political scientists

How do think-tanks influence the EU’s policy process? Hartwig Pautz and Dieter Plehwe assess the range of European think-tanks which are active at the EU level of politics. They argue that there is a notable lack of ideological diversity among EU think-tanks, with most organisations polarised around the issue of advocating ‘more’ or ‘less’ European integration. There is also a substantial lack of information on the role of think-tanks in influencing policy and no consensus over how they should be classified alongside other interest groups.