Transnational alternative policy groups (TAPGs) produce evidence-based knowledge, which challenges dominant economic, political and cultural practices and perspectives and promotes alternatives. These groups work in dialogue with transnational social movements and publics, seeking to facilitate democratic alternatives to neoliberal, global capitalism.
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Practice and Criteria
Unlike a social movement organization, which produces knowledge as it engages with dominant institutions, TAPGs' primary efforts are focused on producing knowledge. They are think-tanks, yet they differ from conventional ones, which conduct policy research and engage primarily with elite political and business circles and corporate media, sustaining a network of alliances that support neoliberal capitalism. Typically, TAPGs work with progressive social movements, learning from them and providing critical ideas -- strategic, policy-oriented, and visionary -- that inform activist initiatives. As a distinct agency of alternative knowledge production and mobilization, such groups are defined by three criteria:
- The core function of the group is the production and mobilization of alternative knowledge;
- A significant portion of their practice takes up transnational issues and speaks to transnational social movement groups and publics;
- The group engages a wide range of issue and is not highly specialized.
Recent research by Carroll has identified sixteen alternative policy groups that fit these criteria particularly well:
TAGPs disseminate knowledge not only via mainstream media venues, but also through activist networks and alternative media, often working collaboratively with social movements in implementing these ideas.
History
In comparison to conventional think-tanks and policy-planning groups TAPGs have been slow to emerge and have formed in smaller numbers. Their development has proceeded in tandem with transnational social movements, emerging since the 1970s. They are therefore embedded in social networks that make up an emerging ‘global left’ that is composed of social movements, progressive NGOs and alternative media. As these movements and groups have developed as advocates for more democratic and socially and ecologically just forms of globalization, TAPGs have emerged in symbiosis with them, providing intellectual resources that aim to facilitate the construction of social, political and economic alternatives.