if you want an interesting read, have a look at Who Rules America. Written by a prof at uni of cal. Its certainly interesting. One of the things it addresses is these so called think tanks. How they are used to influence policy - populated by reps of special interest groups. In any event, I remember reading an article from a dink tank outta toronto, can't remember the article, but in the article, they referenced other studies to support their particular findings, in effect to lend some credibility to their position. The trouble was, when you got down to the reference notes, it was others in the same outfit who conducted the supporting "independent" studies. Kind of a, hey but just don't don't believe us, believe us, but if you don't believe us, well here's another study we did, so believe us. In any event, who rules america is - whether you buy everything this fella is selling - is an interesting read.
Who Rules America? Power, Politics, & Social Change