Think tanks and political parties: strategic relevance in Latin America

This work concerns the think tanks (TTs) linked to political parties that have proliferated recently in Latin America. Specifically, it aims to identify the main TTs collaborating with 19 Latin American parties, examine their strategic utility for the parties in question and observe any variations between them. A content analysis of the websites of the TTs has been used to create an index that allows for the measurement of the strategic relevance the TTs have for the parties. The analysis demonstrates notable variations in relation to the TTs' utility in the achievement of the parties' objectives, in such a way that, in some cases, they may even acquire the nature of centres of power for the parties. Similarly, an exploratory observation has been carried out of how certain characteristics of the parties and contexts lead to the parties establishing stronger links with the TTs and use these links strategically.