ABSTRACT
In an age when the power of a computer chip doubles at least every 18 months, when the average young adult is training for jobs that do not yet exist, and when flying halfway around the world requires less than a day, the resulting surge of new information often raises more questions than it answers. In this increasingly complex, independent, and information-rich world, governments and individual policy-makers face the common problem of bringing expert knowledge to bear in governmental decision-making. In response, although initially behind the wave of globalization, growth of public policy research organizations, or “think tanks,” over the last few decades has been nothing less than explosive. Not only have these organizations increased in number, but the scope and impact of their work has also expanded dramatically at the national, regional, and global level. Twenty years ago, when the first global meeting of think tanks in Barcelona, Spain, was organized, many colleagues suggested that the term “think tank” did not travel well across borders. Today, the term is an accepted transnational concept.1
