Populist Academics and Think Tank Politics

What public intellectual roles do conservative academics play in this era of populist politics? One measure of political activism by academics is their participation in think tanks external to the university. Vying with the media and universities, think tanks have come to exert tremendous amounts of symbolic power by helping to shape how policy makers, political leaders, and journalists understand the social world. They are prime sites where academics can exercise public intellectual roles. This paper identifies the think tank participation of 100 US conservative academics who supported the Trump presidency and continue to support Trumpism. The paper examines the network affiliations to major think tanks where these individuals try to influence the public agenda with their views in support of Trumpism. Most of these academic Trumpists hold professorships in mainstream research universities yet tend to be concentrated in just a few schools. Moreover, they tend to be concentrated in just a few nationally important think tanks that project a narrow and extreme right-wing political ideological orientation. One such think tank stands out: the Claremont Institute in California. This research invites cross-national comparisons with conservative European Academics who support right-wing populist movements and governments. Particular attention will be given to the case of the Institut de sciences sociales, économiques et politiques (ISSEP) in Lyon, France with close ties to Marion Maréchal and the extreme right. To what extent do these conservative French academics support positions similar to the American Trumpists and how do they differ?