504 Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos Núm. 2 / 2013 What is a think tank? What do they do and what is their aim? How have they developed and evolved? What types of think tanks exist? What is their impact? What is their role in defining and applying defence strategies? This chapter will aim to answer these questions and to undertake an analysis of think tanks, particularly in the area of defence policies and international relations. Think tanks emerge from civil society and are involved in the debate on public policies. Against this main backdrop, questions arise on the pairing of think tanks and defence. These questions allow us to understand to what extent organic links exist between the two. Bearing in mind the different aspects of the relationship between think tanks and defence – historical, semiotic, strategic –, the idea is to define different guiding principles as regards the capacity of think tanks to influence the diplomatic activities of states, their legitimacy to intervene forcibly and their vision on the debate on defence spending in the United States, France and Spain. The relationship between think tanks and defence reveals a symbiotic history that could go a long way towards explaining their interdependency. Underestimating or ignoring the historical and cultural dimension of the think tank phenomenon would mean reducing them to a simple symptom of the Americanisation of the world or to a mere fad, leading to the risk of misunderstanding the new paradigm of power management. In this way, recognising and studying the ecosystem of think tanks, their conditions and their modus operandi allows us to understand the role that the-se organisations play in managing and implementing public policies, particularly international relations and defence policies. This article does not aim to judge the relevance of the existence of think tanks, nor does it intend to give an opinion on their activities and contents. Rather, it focuses on presenting the state of the subject through factual elements and sources from expert authors in the field, allowing the reader to interpret what has been presented. Think tanks are not the solution to a defined challenge, nor are they the only response to a state’s needs; but they are an additional tool, both different and complimentary, in the technical and strategic range of tools a state has at its disposal. A detailed description of the subject and its mechanisms is the key to better understanding power games in today’s society. I. DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS What is a think tank? It is very difficult to give a precise and comprehensive definition of a think tank, as a think tank is characterised by being a shifting object, idiosyncratic in finding its own form within its environment (cultural, political, economic and historical) and to a certain degree subjective due to the lack of qualifying criteria at the academic level.
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