Think Tanks Replace Parties

In the United States, think tanks and nonprofit policy networks have come to perform core party functions: drafting legislation, staffing communications pipelines, hosting revolving personnel, and coordinating factional policy agendas. Because these organizations are funded and structured differently than parties (and sometimes internationally supported), they can decouple policy formation from electoral accountability and intra‑party discipline. — If policy development is outsourced to semi‑permanent, well‑funded organizations rather than membership‑rooted parties, democratic accountability, factional balance, and who benefits from policy shifts will change fundamentally.