The “Economic Policy and Competitiveness Research Center” (EPCRC) hosted the “Why Facts and Think Tanks Matter” discussion as part of the “2018 Go to Think Tank Index Report Launch” with the support of “Konrad Adenauer Stiftung” on 31 January 2019. Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program at the University of Pennsylvania annually published “Go to Think Tank Index Report”. More than 255 organizations in 75 countries hosted events on “Why Facts and Think Tanks Matter” around the world.
What is Think Tank?
In short, “Think tank” can be defined as an organization, which conducts policy researches, defines and suggests certain problem-solving alternatives and does advocative works.
Why are they important?
Think Tank researches should be considered significant notwithstanding an improvement of the policy-making capability of legislative and the executive branch of government. Firstly, it is said that “Think Tanks” can conduct more objective researches, while there are not many creative ideas that differ from common attitudes in government branches. Secondly, relating to the reason above unlike government branches, which make decisions within their standardized procedures, “Think Tanks” encourage change and improvement. Thirdly, Think Tanks have an advantage of recruiting and cooperating researchers who don’t have any conflict of interest.
Importance of research-based and reliable information has been increasing in this era of media and communication. Main activities of Think Tanks are to exchange information, promote research reports and foster innovation and evolution in society. There are many examples of “Think Tank” or “Policy Research Institute” around the world. For instance: Brookings Institution (US), KDI (Korea Development Institute), Chatham House (UK), IIED (International Institute for Environment Development, UK) and KAS, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Germany) etc. These kinds of institutions from various fields contribute to more informed decision making and government policies. Furthermore, the People’s Republic of China has ranked its Think Tanks and regarded them significantly by hiring representatives of high ranked Think Tanks in government policy councils and using their research results in their policies.
In order to use our capacities efficiently and observe world tendencies, the reliability of facts and information also play a crucial role in Mongolia. In addition, media has always been an important instrument to spread statistics, facts, and results of researches. Facts must also be examined and journalism should be ethical. As society changes, function and involvement of journalism have increased more, thus cooperation of think tanks with media has become significant for the reliability of media.
[1] Source: G.Badamdash: Position of Policy Research Centers (Think Tank) in U.S. politics