Research On Local Government Purchasing Decision-Making Advisory Services From Social Think Tanks In China

Since the 19 th CPC national congress,in view of the complexity of the international situation and the practical need for scientific and democratic decision-making,the construction of a new type of think tank in line with China’s national conditions has become a major issue for the party and the government.In recent years,the central and local governments have issued a series of policy documents on strengthening the construction of new-type think tanks with Chinese characteristics.Social think tanks,as a important part of new-type think tanks with Chinese characteristics,will also usher in the best period of their own development and become an important source of decision-making advisory for local government in China.Purchasing decision-making advisory services from social think tanks by local governments is an effective way to actively explore the participation of social think tanks in decision-making advisory process,as well as the inherent requirement of establishing a diversified supply system of decision-making advisory services,and also it is conducive to the transformation of government functions,scientific and democratic decision-making,and the modernization of national governance capacity.Therefore,it is of great theoretical and practical significance to study how local governments purchase decision-making advisory services from social think tanks.Social think tank is a non-profit policy research institution initiated and established by the civil forces,self-funded and public-welfare oriented.It has strong independence,autonomy and problem-oriented consciousness,and can reflect the most realistic and urgent interest demands of the public.In this paper,there are three ways of local governments purchase decision-making advisory services from social think tanks:independent competitive purchasing,independent non-competitive purchasing and dependent non-competitive purchasing.And it is considered that the independent competitive purchasing mode will become the mainstream form of the purchasing.The choice of different purchase modes will not only affect the function of social think tanks,but also construct the interaction mode between government and social think tanks,thus influencing the final output of policy products of social think tanks.At the same time,the path dependence on the traditional decision-making consulting method will make local governments encounter many practical difficulties in purchasing services from social think tanks.To promote local governments to purchase social think tanks services,we should start from the three dimensions of government,social think tank and institutional environment,so that social think tanks can better play its role of decision-making advisory in the process of making public policies.