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President Sook Jong Lee of the East Asia Institute describes the roles of think tanks as policy influencers enabling a better government. Think tanks in South Korea were established after the country’s rapid industrialization and have risen in number due to the scientific planning of public policies and democratization. South Korean think tanks were considered relatively weak and had very little influence until they received funding from other sources. This paper categorizes think tanks based on their funding source: government funding, profit-seeking conglomerate funding, and non profit. However, unlike most think tanks, the East Asia Institute (EAI) seeks its funding from overseas institutions, thus allowing the EAI to maintain a strong influential power at home and aboard. EAI’s rapid growth relies from four strategies: 1) proactive external project financing; 2) utilize research networks of non-resident scholars; 3) active international networking; and 4) innovative dissemination. This paper was initiated by the Network of Democracy Research Institutes (NDRI) and was designed to explain the value of think tanks and their role in improving democratic governance.
EAI President Sook-Jong Lee Think tanks have become an integral force in the contemporary policy processes of most countries. Public-policy scholar Diane Stone defines them as “a vehicle for broader questions about the policy process and the role of ideas and expertise in decision making.” Think tanks serve both government and civil society by generating influential policy ideas and ultimately enabling better governance. These functions are not limited to domestic issues. Aided by a rapid transmission of information, today’s think tanks copy and learn from one another as they address similar policy questions. A significant number of think tanks disseminate their research output widely, and engage in international networking and exchanges. Political sociologist Inderjeet Parmar even argues that institutes involved in global affairs engage in unofficial diplomacy through international conferences. American think tanks in particular have been widely recognized as influential in both domestic and international public affairs. Political scientist David M. Ricci writes that about one hundred think tanks thrive in the metropolitan Washington area, and that the ideas circulated there make a commendable contribution to society’s perennial search for political wisdom. He finds that today’s Washington think tanks emerged during the 1970s and 1980s to support a nationwide campaign by conservatives against what they saw as the dominant liberal policies and ways of life. Furthermore, he argues, the trends of the new American politics—the rising importance of expertise in campaigning and governing, an increasing dissonance in values, and the need to market political wares—have contributed to the growth of thinks tanks. Historian James A. Smith says that the proliferation of U.S. think tanks reflects the distinctive way in which Americans have sought to link knowledge and power. The knowledge and analytic techniques of experts are increasingly utilized in public service, as rational planning and scientific methods have come to be widely recognized as practical tools for improving policies. Emerging countries require planning and advisory institutions as much as developed countries, leading to the rising number of think tanks around the world. Policy experts R. Kent Weaver and James G. McGann maintain that officials in both information-rich and information-poor societies need research that is understandable, reliable, and useful, and such demands have helped to foster the development of independent public-policy organizations, or think tanks...(Continued)
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