Rethinking Think Tanks in Contemporary China

ISBN-13: 9783319572994 / Angielski / Twarda / 2017 / 207 str.

Silvia Menegazzi

Opis

This book explores under what conditions Chinese think tanks perform their main functions and duties given the numerous limits to civic participation exemplified by China's profoundly rooted authoritarian practices on the one hand, and a growing, yet still well-controlled, civil society on the other. Advancing a new conceptual framework and an alternative classification, the author proposes to 'rethink' Chinese think tanks according to their functionality. In doing so, the author argues that the current fourth generation of think tanks in China perform three essential functions within PRC's decision making system: they collect analysis and recommendations for the Chinese leaders; they provide analysis and research filling a 'knowledge gap' within state bureaucratic apparatus based on specific funding procedures; they provide empirical evidence and recommendations in order to influence policy decisions, especially with regards to societal and environmental problems.

Spis treści

1. Introduction                     

2. Think Tanks, Knowledge Regimes and the Global Agora

3. Think Tanks in China

4. Chinese Think Tanks and Economic Diplomacy

5. Chinese Think Tanks and Environmental Diplomacy

6. Conclusions: Rethinking Think Tanks in Contemporary China

O autorze

Silvia Menegazzi is Post-Doctoral Research Fellow in Political Science and International Relations at LUISS Guido Carli University and Visiting Faculty Member at the American University of Rome, Italy.

Blurb

This book analyzes how Chinese think tanks have become essential actors in today’s Chinese foreign policy and diplomatic practices. By providing an in-depth analysis of their roles, functions and transformation in the last decade, this study explains how they differ from their Western counterparts and how they have developed during Hu Jintao’s and Xi Jinping’s mandates. Think tanks are often thought to only be able to gain access to political processes within democratic contexts. This book suggests that even in the more ambiguous Chinese political environment, think tanks remain essential actors where ideas, discourses and beliefs about foreign policy and diplomacy are generated, framed and discussed vis-à-vis China’s ascent role in international affairs and global governance.