Government Affairs Blog

Are blogs the new think tanks?

Think tanks have been around for decades.  They serve various functions but one, whether intentional or not, is to create an intellectual backdrop for new political movements.  It could be argued that the Institute of Economic Affairs and the Centre for Policy Studies both served that purpose for the Thatcher administration.  In the 1980s, the IPPR and Demos did the same for New Labour.
 
Think tanks are still important.  Peter Hain's recent desire to set one up seems to say that all Ministers should have won.  But I wonder if blogs are slowly replacing the think tank's function as creator of the political zeitgeist. 
 
There is no proof for this, which is why it is a question and not a statement.  It is more likely that American could provide such evidence as blogs appear to have more of an impact on politics there.  The reason the thought occurs to me is that there are now people who support all three main political parties blogging about policy and ideas.  They link to each other, argue and some are players within their parties. 
 
Only time will tell what effect all this has on British politics. 
 
Simon Goldie is a member of the CIPR GAG executive and Head of Communications at The Chartered Institute of Taxation - www.tax.org.uk