the Nexus Between the Governments of the Baltic States and Think Tanks in Foreign and Security Policies

Think tanks are increasingly more noticeable in the policy arena or at least more known as a phenomenon that combines political and academic elements. However, their policy role is still undefined in various countries. The policy role of think tanks in the Baltic states are also under-researched. The purpose of this study is to unveil the nexus between the Baltic states’ governments and think tanks, focusing on think tanks who work on foreign and security policy. The paper is based on the theoretical assumption that think tanks’ policy role depends not only on their operational environment, but also on the governmental officials’ perceptions of think tanks. Therefore, this study traces the perceptions of how the governments of the Baltic states see the role of think tanks. Do they believe that think tanks might contribute to the foreign and security policies with ideas and suggestions? Or do they believe that think tanks are tools for the governments to further their national interests abroad? How much conformism can we identify in the think tanks? Are they independent and how much they adapt to the wishes from the government? Besides, the question is how different the perceptions are when it comes to their national think tanks and to foreign think tanks. Finally, the similarities and differences between the three Baltic states’ think tanks will be discussed in the contexts of different development levels when it comes to the status of policy research, their income sources and financial capabilities. The main method of this research – semi-structured interviews with think tanks’ management and governmental officials in the Baltic states. The results of the research suggest that the nexus between the Baltic governments and think tanks are mostly of a conformist nature due to the financial dependence and a standard of policy relevance. In addition, the governments are mostly interested in the knowledge dissemination rather than ideas and suggestions. Finally, governments are highly interested in making influence on well-known think tanks, for instance in the United States of America, instead of a dialogue with their own think tanks. This is due to the expectation that influential American think tanks might help Baltic states to further their national interests abroad.