British Think Tanks And Their Functions Analyzed

British think tanks referred to nonprofit organizations and groups of the basic way with thought offering . They engaged in multi - disciplinary research intended to influence public policy . At past of three decades, the important role of British think tanks had played in the political living cause people s expensive concern . However in regard to this research topic , Chinese scholars introduced United States think tanks mostly , few bring the British think tanks into the rage of research . In this text , we had analysised and introduced British think tanks on their functions , characters and traditions of development by compared British think tanks and United States think tanks . At the same time , we also summarized that of the successful experience of all western countries and bring up positive suggestions to the development of our country think tanks .By any large , think tanks initiated after world war I , developed after world war II , thrived on the 1960s and 1970s .The definition of the term ' think tank' that academic circles to do is differently with nations and societies . The term was fist used to denote the Central Policy Review Staff (CPRS) which established in the Cabinet Office by the then Prime Minister , Edward Heath . Until the 1970s , think tanks had a distinctive style : most claimed to be scholarly , nonpartisan organizations . At least 30 additional independent institutes had been established since 1970s . These organizations adopt the form of the scholastic group , join the decision process of government by the special way of themselves : They--are usually identified with particular position on the political spectrum--left , right , green , liberal , etc ;the focus is to bring up policy and suggestion or political outhne ; are not overtly " campaigning ' organizations for policy changes ; use the media and the direct contacts with politicians , civil servants and the other policy organizations in the policy community to disseminate their work to attempt to influence the government of the day and wider public debate ; generally initiate their own work and seek funding for it ; are generally funded from charitable and corporate sources .Think tanks in UK are numerous , and the scale is different . According to its belongings, we can divide them as below several types : authority counsel research organizations ,contract research organizations , advocacy tanks and universities without students ; In regard to concrete party affiliation , they also can be divided into central - right think tanks , central -left think tanks and other nonpartisan think tanks .Basically , think tanks have at least six general functions : the first function of a think tank is the early - warning - job " . This means think tanks have to warn the political community and society about new political , economic and social problems lying ahead ; The second function of a think tank is the " produce - solution - job " , think tank should offering solutions to how to handle the challenges that face by increasingly complicated modem countries . For example , in the 1980s , Margaret Thatcher drew heavily support from conservative think tanks when undertaking her assault on the welfare state ; The third function is the " policy propagation " , aimed to affect the action of politicians and bureaucratic administrations ; The fourth , a think tank can " think unthinkable , they dare to produce radical new thoughts that parties dare not to bring up ; The fifth , a think tank also served as a media to contact with political party and government , by them you can keep close relations politically with high - level politicians , special advisers and major civil servants . Finally , a think tank also functioned as a money pipeline , they have spawned a relentless pursuit for loophole to funnel illegal money to parties and candidates .Think tanks are of use to different groups in society and in politics in different ways . Influence can be wielded in a rage of spheres from cultural and educational arenas to political and policy...