Understanding the Development of Think Tanks in Mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan: An Introduction to the Special Issue

Many new think tanks have emerged in East Asia in recent decades. The region is home to highly diverse and in some cases very vibrant environments for think-tank development. While there are some commonalities among think tanks in East Asia in terms of the models used at the time of their establishment, there is no uniform pattern of think-tank development in the region that can be traced back to the operations of developmental states. This Special Issue explores the driving forces of and the challenges to think-thank development in three specific East Asian settings: Mainland China, Taiwan, and Japan. In particular, the experience with think-tank development in Mainland China raises the necessity of reconsidering prevailing conceptions that think tanks can only prosper in democracies and when they are independent of the government.

Two broad conclusions emerge from this Special Issue. First, the contributions emphasize that context matters for think-tank development and, more specifically, that national think-tank sectors are greatly influenced by the particular political context in which they exist. Second, the contributions show not only that the specific political context factors that impact the trajectories and traits of East Asian think-tank sectors vary between countries, but also that they operate at different interactive levels: (a) at the level of the inter- and transnational context within which think-tank sectors develop; (b) at the level of domestic governmental systems and their openness to external policy advice and other think-tank services; and (c) at the level of individual political leaders interested in engaging with think tanks.

理解智库在中国大陆、台湾和日本的发展：特刊导言

关键词：东亚，智库，政治环境，国家，官僚机构，公共政策。

近几十年来东亚出现了很多新的智库。本地区拥有对智库来说高度多样化并在某些案例中非常活跃的发展环境。尽管东亚的智库在创建时期所使用的模型上具有一些共同特点，但是本地区并无可以追溯到发展型国家运作的统一的智库发展模式。本期特刊探讨了东亚三个具体环境下——中国大陆，台湾、日本——智库发展的驱动力量和面对的挑战。尤其是，中国大陆智库发展的经验表明很有必要重新考量普遍认为的智库只有在民主国家以及只有当它们独立于政府时才能繁荣发展的观念。

特刊形成了两个宽泛的结论。首先，各论文均强调，对智库发展来说政治环境很重要。更具体来说，国家的智库部门受到各自所在的特定的政治环境的重大影响。第二，各论文都显示影响东亚智库部门的发展路径和特征的具体政治环境要素不仅各国之间不同，而且它们在不同的互动层次运作：（a）在智库部门发展的国际或是跨国环境层面；（b）在国内政府体系及他们对外部政策策建议和其它智库服务的开放性层面；(c) 在有兴趣同智库接触的政治领袖的个体层面。

Translated from English by Li Guo