LAUSR

ABSTRACT Building on Bourdieu’s Field Theory and on Thomas Medvetz’s study of American think tanks, this article introduces the concept of modalities of integration to examine how a selection of three Canadian think tanks have emerged and endured to promote specific views. Results show that the political identities of these think tanks are mediated by the communities they maintain and the forms of power these represent. These findings suggest that it is the way think tanks mediate the power structures of modern societies that can explain the convergence and cohesion of their policy ideas and political identities. The centrist think tank achieves its ‘centrism’ by catering to dominant interests and the state while extending a hand to ‘middle powers.’ The more activist think tanks maintain more homogenous communities by securing ties to specific interests and particular intellectual/ideological commitments.