Think tank

Tăng duy (tiếng Anh: think tank hoặc think tanks, tiếng Nhật: シンクタンク - Shinku-tanku) là một tổ chức hoặc nhóm các cá nhân hoạt động nghiên cứu đưa ra các tư vấn về chính sách, chiến lược trong các lĩnh vực, ban đầu là quân sự, sau đó mở rộng sang các lĩnh vực khác như chính trị, kinh tế, giáo dục, khoa học - kĩ thuật. Nhiều tăng duy là các tổ chức phi lợi nhuận, như ở Nước Mĩ và Canađa. Các tăng duy khác được thành lập hoặc tài trợ bởi Chính phủ hoặc các cá nhân.

Lịch sử

Tăng duy, phiên âm của think tank(s), có nghĩa là (những) chiếc thùng của tư duy. Từ think tank được đề cập đến khoảng những năm 1950. Đến nay vẫn còn sự tranh luận về tăng duy đầu tiên. Một trong số các tăng duy đầu tiên là the Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI), thành lập vào năm 1831 theo sáng kiến của Duke of Wellington.

Sau năm 1930, số lượng tăng duy bùng nổ mạnh, nhiều tăng duy mới được thành lập để đáp ứng cho các lĩnh vực khác nhau. Đến những năm 1940, phần lớn các tăng duy được biết đến như là những Viện Chính sách. Trong thế chiến thứ hai, tăng duy được đề cập cùng với phương pháp "não công".

Tuy nhiên thuật ngữ tăng duy, được sử dụng ban đầu khi đề cập đến tổ chứcRAND Corporation, được thành lập năm 1946, có nhiệm vụ đưa ra các tư vấn quân sự.

Xem thêm định nghĩa của UNDP.

Types

Think tanks represent a variety of ideological perspectives. Some think tanks, such as the Heritage Foundation, are clearly aligned with conservative causes. Others, especially those focused on social and environmental reforms, such as the Tellus Institute, are viewed as clearly liberal. Still others, such as the Cato Institute, promote libertarian social and economic reforms.

A new trend, resulting from globalization, is collaboration between think tanks across continents.

Criticism

In some cases, corporate interests have found it useful to create "think tanks." For example, The Advancement of Sound Science Coalition was formed in the mid 1990s to dispute research finding a link between second-hand smoke and cancer. According to an internal memo from Philip Morris, "the credibility of the EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] is defeatable, but not on the basis of ETS (environmental tobacco smoke) alone. It must be part of a larger mosaic that concentrates all the EPA's enemies against it at one time."

According to NGO Fair.org, right-wing think tanks are often quoted, and rarely labeled. The result is that sometimes think tank "experts" are depicted as neutral sources without any ideological predispositions when in fact they represent a particular perspective.

SourceWatch states that given that think tanks can obtain funding from the private sector, it is expected that in general right-wing think tanks may receive more funding than left-wing think tanks.

Tăng duy ở các nước

Hoa Kì

Think tanks in the United States form both foreign and domestic policy. Think tanks in the United States generally receive funding from private donors, and members of private organizations. Think tanks may feel more free to propose and debate controversial ideas than people within government. The media watchgroup Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) has identified the top 25 think tanks by media citations, noting that from 2006 to 2007 the number of citations declined 17%. The FAIR report reveals the ideological breakdown of the citations: 37% conservative, 47% centrist, and 16% liberal. Their data show that the most-cited think tank was the Brookings Institution, followed by the Council on Foreign Relations, the American Enterprise Institute, the Heritage Foundation, and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Government think tanks are also important in the United States, particularly in the security and defense field. These include the Institute for National Strategic Studies, Institute for Homeland Security Studies, and the Center for Technology and National Security Policy, at the National Defense University; the Center for Naval Warfare Studies at the Naval War College and the Strategic Studies Institute at the U.S. Army War College.

The government funds, wholly or in part, activities at approximately 30 Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDCs). FFRDCs, are unique independent nonprofit entities sponsored and funded by the U.S. government to meet specific long-term technical needs that cannot be met by any other single organization. FFRDCs typically assist government agencies with scientific research and analysis, systems development, and systems acquisition. They bring together the expertise and outlook of government, industry, and academia to solve complex technical problems. These FFRDCs include the RAND Corporation, the MITRE Corporation, the Institute for Defense Analyses, the Aerospace Corporation, the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and other organizations supporting various departments within the U.S. Government.

Similar to the above quasi-governmental organizations are Federal Advisory Committees. These groups, sometimes referred to as commissions, are a form of think tank dedicated to advising the US Presidents or the Executive branch of government. They typically focus on a specific issue and as such, might be considered similar to special interest groups. However, unlike special interest groups these committees have come under some oversight regulation and are required to make formal records available to the public. Approximately 1,000 these advisory committees are described in the FACA searchable database.

Trung Quốc

In the People's Republic of China a number of think tanks are sponsored by governmental agencies but still retain sufficient non-official status to be able to propose and debate ideas more freely. Indeed, most of the actual diplomacy between China and the United States has taken the form of academic exchanges between members of think tanks.

Nhật Bản

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See also

• Collective intelligence
• Futurists
• List of think tanks
• Overton window
• Mind map
• Freemind
• Opencourseware
• TED (conference)

Additional reading

• Abelson, Donald E. Do Think Tanks Matter? Assessing the Impact of Public Policy Institutes. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2002.
• Boucher, Stephen, et al., Europe and its think tanks; a promise to be fulfilled. An analysis of think tanks specialised in European policy issues in the enlarged European Union, Studies and Research No 35, October, Paris, Notre Europe, 2004 [1]
• Cockett, Richard, Thinking the unthinkable: think tanks and the economic counter revolution; 1931 - 1983, London: Fontana, 1995
• Dickson, Paul. "Think Tanks". New York: Ballantine Books, 1972. 397 pages.
• Goodman, John C. "What is a Think Tank?" National Center for Policy Analysis, 2005.[2]
• Fan, Maureen. "Capital Brain Trust Puts Stamp on the World", Washington Post (16 May 2005): B01.[3]
• Patrick Dixon. Futurewise - Six Faces of Global Change - issues covered by Think Tanks and methodology for reviewing trends, impact on policy 2003): Profile Books
• Hellebust, Lynn and Kristen Hellebust, editors. Think Tank Directory: A Guide to Independent Nonprofit Public Policy Research Organizations. Topeka, Kansas: Government Research Service, 2006 (2nd edition).
• Lakoff, George. Moral Politics: What Conservatives Know That Liberals Don't. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.
• Ladi, Stella. Globalisation, Policy Transfer And Policy Research Institutes, Edward Elgar, 2005.
• Mendizabal, Enrique and Kristen Sample (2009) "Dime a quien escuchas... Think Tanks y Partidos Politicos en America Latina", ODI/IDEA: Lima
• Ranquet, Robert. Think Tanks and the National Security Strategy Formulation Process: A Comparison of Current American and French Patterns, 1997. [4]
• Smith, James. A. The Idea Brokers: Think Tanks and the Rise of the New Policy Elite, New York: The Free Press, 1991.
• Snider, J.H. "Strengthen Think Tank Accountability", Politico (3 February 2009).[5]
• Stone, Diane. 'RAPID Knowledge: ‘Bridging Research and Policy’ in International Development at the Overseas Development Institute', Public Administration and Development, 29, 2009: 303-15.
• Stone, Diane. Capturing the Political Imagination: Think Tanks and the Policy Process, London: Frank Cass, 1996
• Stone, Diane. 'Garbage Cans, Recycling Bins or Think Tanks? Three Myths about Policy Institutes', Public Administration, 85(2) 2007: 259-278
• Stone, Diane, and Andrew Denham, eds. Think Tank Traditions: Policy Research and the Politics of Ideas. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2004.
• Struyk, Raymond J. Managing Think Tanks: Practical Guidance for Maturing Organizations, Budapest, Local Government and Public Service Reform Initiative Washington DC., Urban Institute 2002
• UNDP – United Nations Development Program. Thinking the Unthinkable, Bratislava, UNDP Regional Bureau for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, 2003

External links

• The Economist Magazine and NPR's Marketplace report: "Under the Influence: Think Tanks and The Money That Fuels Them"
• Foreign Policy Research Institute, Think Tanks and Civil Societies Program directory of over 5000 think tanks and research on the role and impact of think tanks.
• PBS: Think Tank with Ben Wattenberg: "Thinking About Think Tanks" - interview with Christopher DeMuth, President of AEI, October 13, 2005