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The demand for ‘critical research’ in a competitive authoritarian regime: think tanks in Mozambique

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2018

William R. Nylen
William R. Nylen*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Stetson University, DeLand, FL 32721, USA
*
Email: wnylen@stetson.edu
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Abstract

Think tanks in competitive authoritarian regimes are implicitly if not explicitly oppositional, producing and disseminating research critical of government policies and elite behaviour. Existing literature asks how and why such think tanks emerge and survive, and if they exercise real influence. This paper asks if anyone actually reads their critical research. Focusing on two cases in Mozambique – the Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Económicos (IESE) and the Centro de Integridade Pública (CIP) – three original data sets are examined: (1) citations in the bibliographies of end-of-programme theses of undergraduates in the political science, public administration, economics, and/or sociology departments of two of Mozambique's most important universities; (2) websites and Facebook activities – visits, downloads, etc.; and (3) citations in academic journals that publish on Africa. Findings show evolving demand for these think tanks’ research, suggesting their growing status within Mozambique and, by implication, within civil societies of similar competitive authoritarian regimes.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 56 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 269 - 297
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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Footnotes

The author thanks the Fulbright Foundation and Stetson University for financial support; also Natalia Fingermann, Lázaro Mabunda, Gary Maris, Bob Press and two anonymous JMAS reviewers for helpful comments, as well as Daniel Urena for research assistance.

References

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