Think Tanks and Modernization of the State in Chile: Collaborative Work between the Centro de Estudios Públicos, Espacio Público, Chile 21 and Libertad y Desarrollo

Abstract

The article examines the collaborative work between four think tanks, two from the center left (Espacio Público and Chile 21), and two from the right (Center for Public Studies and Freedom and Development), to promote the modernization agenda of the State in Chile in 2017. Using a qualitative approach that included the analysis of documents and, in addition, semi-structured interviews conducted with a participant from each center, the type of expert consensus reached and the capacity for influence and asymmetries of collaborative work in modernization agendas are analyzed of the centers. To this end, struggles and negotiations are exposed in the construction of expert knowledge, which affect the capacity for intervention, persuasion and the consolidation of the centers’ own positions in the field. It is concluded that the generation of an expert consensus, although it can facilitate the adoption of measures to implement these agreements as public policy, is not sufficient for their political adoption.