U.S. Policymakers Need to Mind the Gap between Think Tanks and Geographic Seams: Policy Recommendations for Improving Research Studies and Expert Commentary on Africa and the Middle East at American Think Tanks

29 April 2024, Version 1
This content is an early or alternative research output and has not been peer-reviewed at the time of posting.

Abstract

The Biden Administration recently declared transcending geographic seams to be a national security priority. However, this declaration does not appear to have spurred systematic changes in the production of research studies and expert commentary on African affairs within the United States think tank community. An exploration of the metatags used to label commentary articles published on an African affairs blog by a major United States think tank serves as case in point. Far from transcending the geographic seams, this publication appears to be rife with geographic bias that directs the attention of politicians, policymakers, and regional experts away from these very seams. If the Biden Administration is serious about making progress on transcending geographic seams, then the authors argue that the White House should take immediate action to tackle this problem.

Keywords

Africa
Middle East
Geographic Bias
Think Tanks
Council on Foreign Relations
North Africa
Sahel
Metadata
Bias
Multiregionalism
Transregionalism
Nigeria

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