Embracing Scientific Decision Making: The Rise of Think-Tank Policies in China

Abstract

Increasingly complex domestic and international affairs have pushed the Chinese government to seek think tanks' intellectual support for "scientific policy making." While a number of authors have explored the mechanisms through which Chinese think tanks influence policy making, little is known about how the Chinese central authorities gradually came to accept and to promote the idea to construct "New-Type Think Tanks with Chinese Characteristics" (NTTTCC), i.e. the current policy line on domestic think tank development. Against the backdrop of the evolution of think tanks in China since the beginning of economic reform and opening-up in 1978, this paper traces the development of the new policy line on think tanks and its underlying ideas. The concept of think tanks got introduced into Chinese academic discourse in the 1990s, which also saw the start of studies on such organizations in China. Scholars increasingly considered how Chinese think tanks could explore their own distinct developmental approach, rather than just following Western templates, while global think tank rankings encouraged Chinese domestic think tanks compete with each other. The Global Financial Crisis also made the Chinese leadership realize the shortage of high quality policy analysis by existing think tanks. A window of opportunity for a new policy on think tanks finally opened up when new President Xi Jinping embraced in 2013 a research report on think tanks by the Development Research Center of the State Council. By late 2015, the new policy had led to the selection of 25 "pilot top think tanks" endowed with substantial top-up government funding in support of their research.

The function of expert involvement in China's local policy making

“…We expect policy makers in authoritarian regimes to have the same demand since bounded rationality is human nature. Cases like think tanks in East and Southeast Asia, experts in the Russian budget process, and the expert committee in China's Five-Year Plan, for example, fit the above pattern (Jakobson, 2017;Nachiappan et al, 2010;Qi et al, 2020;Xue et al, 2018).…”

How network resources empower expert involvement? Evidence from urban planning decision-making in China

“…Having multiple voices opens up our minds to a more integrated approach (Interview DS1).” Moreover, it means that the preceding dispute over “bridge design proposal” has provided government trust in expertise. If experts realize that they lack critical resources and capabilities when attempting to impose an impact on the policy, they may turn to collaborate with other experts who have those resources (Xue et al, 2018). Based on this view, it may be further concluded that an appropriate competitive relationship increases the entire expert network influence.…”

Design and learning effects of China’s expert advisory committees1

“…After the entry of WTO in the 2000s, the Chinese government sought to formalize the expert consultation in policy processes for major professional and technical issues, and established extensive expert networks and diverse forms of PABs (e.g. think tanks, see Xue, Zhu, and Han 2018), with an aim to "base the decision-making on science (kexue) and democracy (minzhu)" (CCPCC 5 (China Communist Party Central Committee) 2004). Chinese governments at all levels established internal research offices and research centers, which absorbed experts to serve as internal advisors (Naughton 2002).…”