Advocay Think Tanks as News Sources and Agenda Setters

As in the other Scandinavian countries, think tanks in Sweden are growing in number, and a few of them also in influence and political importance. However, only some of them have high media visibility. In addition, think tanks represent centres of influence in direct contact with policymakers. Swedish advocacy think tanks mostly depend on economic support from corporations or organized interest groups. They may be influential in strategic politics, but are at the same time a force outside mainstream political institutions. Think tanks are not, like the political parties and their youth organizations, based on membership and time-consuming membership activities. For this reason, they are often quick and efficient in terms of producing political arguments, and are free to take initiatives in different policy areas, but are also without any responsibility for further processes and outcomes. In the long run, the most interesting question is whether this development will stimulate democratic institutions and democratic processes, or whether it will reduce the development of political ideas to a specialized business for small, sponsored elites.