Wie der Think Tank-Markt die politischen Debatten in Frankreich inspirieren könnte

Jean-Thomas Lesueur erläutert in diesem Artikel in Public Affairs News, warum sich neue Ideen in Frankreich nur schwer durchsetzen.

In this country analysis published in the October 2005 edition of Public Affairs News, Jean-Thomas Lesueur, from the Institut Thomas More think tank, illustrates how France’s rather „Jacobin tradition“ and „certain idea of the state“ despises „sectoral interests, entrepreneurs and detests lobbyists even more“.

The fact is, however, that lobbying is indeed well-established in France despite the widespread scepticism it still faces, says the author. Jean-Thomas Lesueur thinks that an „intellectual revolution“ on the lobbying of ideas is necessary as there is „no precedent for a market in political ideas in France“. 

Whereas some are sceptical about the possible effect of this „whole industry of ideas“ emerging from think tanks, lobbyists etc., Jean-Thomas Lesueur and other members of the Institut Thomas More consider this „new force“ as a great opportunity for the development of a new governing style. Although, it will obviously take time for the think tank market to „mature“, the Institut Thomas More feels more concerned about the possible risk of „the think tank market maturing before the minds of the ‚men of the state‘ do“. 

If think tanks succeeded in gaining more prominence, they would, according to Jean-Thomas Lesueur, play „a central role in the most urgent issue confronting French contemporary political debate, namely how to reform the state before it collapses, how to anticipate and assimilate modern forms of democratic life smoothly, before necessity imposes them roughly“. 

Please click here to read the full article in 
Public Affairs News