Why and how do think tanks expand their networks in times of crisis? The case of Bruegel and the Centre for European Policy Studies

ABSTRACT

The eurozone crisis has spectacularly increased the European Union’s (EU’s) institutional demand for expert knowledge. While the crisis has challenged the legitimacy of the EU in many ways, it has in contrast amplified the visibility and the role of Brussels-based think tanks as laboratories of ideas that think ahead about eurozone governance and policies. Drawing on the analysis of more than 450 expert reports produced by two leading Brussels-based think tanks, over 300 CVs and biographical notes as well interviews, this article explores when, how and why Brussels-based think tanks expand their networks in times of crisis. While the article leaves aside the question of their ideational impact upon agenda-setting and the policy formulation process leading to the new European economic governance, it shows how think tanks adapt to crises and how they seek to have a voice in thinking about the future of the EU’s economic governance.

KEY WORDS:

• Bruegel
• CEPS
• Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
• eurozone crisis
• expert knowledge
• networks
• think tanks

Acknowledgements

The author would like to thank the four anonymous referees and the members of the H2020 Research Project ELIGHTEN – ‘European legitimacy in governing through hard times: the role of European networks’ who provided very useful comments and suggestions on this article. Special thanks are owed to Emilien Paulis (Centre d’études de la vie politique of the ULB) for his help in the production of the network visualisation.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Ramona Coman is associate professor in political science, Institute for European Studies, Université libre de Bruxelles

ORCID

Ramona Coman http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0735-2071

Notes

1. One hundred and forty-nine CVs for Bruegel and 171 CVs and biographical notes for the CEPS.

2. Its board comprises 3 former ministers of economy/finance, two former members of the European Commission (Joachim Almunia and Danuta Hubner), one member of the German Bundestag, and a series of representatives of industrial/economic corporations.

3. Its board is composed of 12 members who have served in prestigious international, European and domestic institutions. The former president of the European Central Bank (BCE) Jean-Claude Trichet succeeded to Mario Monti as chair of the board.

4. Daniel Gros, ‘What role for a European think tank in the age of populism?’, https://www.ceps.eu/content/what-role-european-think-tank-age-populism (accessed 29 September 2017).

5. Member states’ fees vary from €33,203 (Luxemburg, Malta and Cyprus) to €199,218 (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom).

6. In 2012, Bloomberg Markets included his name in the list of ‘50 Most Influential’ with reference to his advocacy work devoted to the European Banking Union.

Additional information

Funding

This research received support from the EU’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Framework Programme, under grant agreement number REP-649456-1 titled ‘European legitimacy in governing through hard times: the role of European networks’ (ENLIGHTEN, http://enlightenproject.eu).