Embracing Scientific Decision Making: The Rise of Think-Tank Policies in China

The literature has traditionally regarded the rise and fall of Chinese think tanks as a product of the relaxation or tightening of control over the ideological domain by the Communist Party of China (CPC). However, since 2013, think tanks in China have continued to prosper in spite of the general perception that the ideological domain became more restricted. This article explains the reasons for, and consequences of, the rise of key think-tank policies and the construction of “New-Type Think Tanks with Chinese Characteristics” (NTTTCC). We argue that the success of Chinese think tanks has been driven primarily by greater official recognition of their value, due to increasingly complex domestic and international problems stemming from a fragmented decision-making system. We further argue that the rise of think-tank policies in China can be attributed to a long history of interactions among multiple internal and external actors, which in turn, opened the “window of opportunity” for a new policy agenda. Consequently, by late 2015, the new policies led to the selection of twenty-five “pilot high-end think tanks” and the establishment of the management system of think tanks in China.

拥抱科学决策：中国智库政策的兴起

关键词：智库，中国，碎片化的决策体系，学术话语，中国特色新型智库

以往的文献传统上一直将中国智库的兴衰看作中共对意识形态领域放松或收紧控制的结果。然而，尽管普遍的印象是自2013年以来中国加强了对意识形态领域的管制，智库却持续繁荣发展。本文解释了关键性的“加强中国特色新型智库建设”政策的原因和后果。我们认为中国智库的繁荣主要是由于官方越来越认可智库在应对根植于碎片化的决策体系中日益复杂的国内和国际问题的价值所驱动的。我们进一步提出，中国智库政策的兴起可以归结于各种内部和外部行动者之间一个长期互动的历史，这种互动相应地也为一个新的政策议程打开了“机会之窗”。截止2015年末，新政策促成了25个“高端智库试点”的获选以及中国智库管理体系的建立。

Translated from English by Li Guo