ABSTRACT
The peace process were any indication of the state of policy making in the Middle East and North Africa one might as well abandon any hopes of inspiring policy change in the desert. The types of think tanks one might find in the Middle East and North Africa depend largely on the relative degrees of democracy that exist from country to country. One interesting element to the policy research landscape that may be unique to the Middle East and North Africa is the existence of research corporation. A significant number of civil society think tanks in the Middle East and North Africa have had occasion to conduct research or training programs for government officials under contract. The development of nongovernmental, nonprofit policy research institutes, or civil society think tanks, represents an opportunity to fundamentally change the nature of policy making in the Middle East and North Africa.
