Specifics of the Formation and Functioning of "Think Tanks" in Modern China

In recent years, with the development of public policy, think tanks have become increasingly interesting to the academic community, especially their development in non-democratic regions. This research is aimed at studying the specifics of formation and functioning of modern Chinese think tanks. Various methods, including comparative analysis, case-study, comparative case-study and structural-functional approach, will be used to identify the phenomenon of think tanks in China. Through comparative analysis of Chinese think tanks, five criteria defining the functionality of think tanks were summarised, and four types of answers were formulated to assess their compliance with these criteria: "meets", "does not meet", "partially meets", "partially does not meet". The structural-functional approach and comparative case-study revealed non-compliance with the criteria of "autonomy" and "non-governmentalism", which makes Chinese think tanks unique examples that do not coincide with either Western or other Asian anological structures. Key words: think tank, China, Western and Asian models of think tanks