A Study of Social Think Tanks in China: Dilemma, Trends and Breakthroughs

Social think tanks play an irreplaceable role in the field of public governance because of their unique objective perspectives and expertise. But there has disproportionately inadequate research into social think tanks. At present, researches and explorations concerning social think tanks are largely mixed with studies on “think tanks,” and there are still no institutes, groups or periodicals which work specifically as platforms through which social think tanks are evaluated, monitored and supported. To effectively address such problems as the direction, methodology, priorities and points of penetration for research on social think tanks, it is necessary to have a comprehensive, systematic understanding of present researches into social think tanks. By conducting searches in the CNKI database, 224 articles were chosen for statistical analysis in seven respects, namely, year of publication, author, organization with which the author works, theme, citation, concentration of research, and journal involved. Based on analysis findings, this paper suggests building a platform by which to evaluate and monitor researches on social think tanks, establishing an echelon-based model of professional training for social think tanks, stepping up development of social think tanks in western China or the remote and poor parts of the country, optimizing mechanisms for the transformation and application of research outcomes of social think tanks, increasing support to weak fields of research on social think tanks, and conducting research into major and difficult problems confronting social think tanks.