Think tank traditions is a follow up to the critically acclaimed monograph Think Tanks across Nations (Manchester University Press, 1998), edited by the same authors, which was widely acknowledged as a ground-breaking work in the comparative study of think tanks. The book looks at the historical role and contemporary significance of think tanks in the West, including Europe, the United States and Canada, as well as considering their activities in China, Eastern Europe and Argentina. In so doing, the book provides a broad-based and in-depth analysis of the role of think tanks in the processes of economic liberalization and democratization. Diane Stone is a Reader in Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick. For two years from 2004, she will be Professor and Co-Director of the Center for Policy Studies at the Central European University in Budapest. Andrew Denham is Reader in Government at the University of Nottingham.