On The Evolution

What support the United States dominats the world nearly a century after World War I,and its comprehensive strength ranks the first in the world? And what assist the US government could systematically deal with daily affairs and crisis challenges at home and abroad,formulate reasonable policies and measures to safeguard the fundamental interests of the country and its people? The Brookings Institution,the Rand Corporation and the Heritage Foundation,as the representative of think tank,plays a pivotal role in the American political decision-making process,and provide the professional knowledge, countermeasures scheme,public opinion guidance and decision-making support for the government,society and the public to deal with the public affairs and coordinate the public relations. Think tank is an important symbol to measure a country’s soft power and discourse power. Its level of construction and development,research and service capacity,social influence is directly related to and affects the whole national development plan and long-term strategy deployment.China is in a crucial period of reform and development. Facing the increasing complexity of the new situation,new problems and the uncertainty of development,The government urgently needs all kinds of think-tank to fill the vacancy in such aspects as information,time and expertise thinking,and to open innovative,theoretical and prospective study. In recent years,there is a rise of think tanks hot in China,but we should calmly think that what is the think tank,and the origin of think tanks,to avoid misunderstanding of think tanks and disorder status of think tank construction. That needs theorists to study the origin and history of think tanks from the perspective of academic.Think tank generated in specific natural environment and human social needs of specific knowledge and thought. Think tank experenced a long history, from prehistoric times to the highly civilized modern society. Prehistoric times,in order to maintain the settlement group stability,resolve conflicts,withstand natural disasters and foreign invasion,the venerable,the wise and mighty took the history stage of think tanks, produced the cognitive thinking and dealed with the social affairs,to provide knowledge thought gene for the evolution of think tanks. Period of civilization,especially the feudal scholastic period,natural,social,ideological and cultural environment was becoming increasingly complex,the East-West think tank shape(Menke,staff,churches,seminaries,etc.) adaptting to the needs of society, provided functions of producing the exploratory knowledge and processing social affairs and others,to meet the religious and secular theocracy ruling monarchy,became the rulers’ weapon of thought control,and evoluted to the composed cells of modern think tank. Renaissance and Enlightenment period,with the emergence of awakening and rational application of science and technology,to meet the diverse needs of the community at the same time,think tanks’ morphology(Knowledge thought supply and transaction negotiation mechanism) and functional(applied knowledge production) has been further development,which built ideological soul of modern think tank. The rise of democratic politics and the expand of the network of knowledge and thought provied political and ideological environment for the formation and evolution of modern think tanks,also put forward new tasks for think tanks,such as the production and reproduction of innovative knowledge,control and guide the trends of public opinion and studies of anticipation and prospective,etc., and has become an important tool for running the country and the balance of power.Think tank is engaged in the production of professional knowledge,ideas and technology R&D,and provides professional decision-making consultation services for the government,community organizations and personel. It is not only the production organization of professional knowledge,the decision-making consultation institutions and policy services,but also the government decision-making auxiliary institution and the reference strategist. The essence of think tank is a process of professional knowledge production and problem directional solving. The emergence and development of think tank needs specific social demand foundation,knowledge base,political environment and academic foundation. Currently, there are some misunderstandings of the think tank that the think tank is a simple gathering case of experts,the collection and storage of knowledge and ideas,and not realize that think tank is a community of cultural collaboration and certain relations.The function of think tank is reflected in its specific ideology and the main supply and demand balance of knowledge,also the new tools of balance the social power;To explore the laws of nature and the social relations,and to produce the professional knowledge ideology;To participate in the national policy process,and to influence policy production out and provide countermeasures; To educate and enlighten the public,guide the trend of public opinion,and grasp the leading edge of the hot social policy and philosophy;Through the cultivation,reserves and conveying of professional talents,accumulating their influence;To build communication bridge among politics,industry,school,research and business,and become an exchange platform for knowledge,power,culture and economic;To carry out social monitoring and(risk) emergency,act as a barometer of social events and dynamic forecasting station.The change of think tanks is the external manifestation of the transformation of the production of knowledge and the way of decision making,adaptation and docking. The historical change dimension of think tanks is the time carrier of the production of knowledge and ideology.The spatial change dimension of think tanks is not only the performance of the shift of the center of economic power,but also the expansion of the research field of think tank,the expansion of the service object in the country and the spread of the product communication and the influence scope of the think tank;The social change dimension of think tanks is the performance of the enrichment of think tank research issues and the change of think tanks’ social status and the influence of product;The subject change dimension of think tanks is not only the change performance of human knowledge needs from professional knowledge to the comprehensive knowledge,but also the transformation performance of the practical knowledge to the combination of theory and practice of knowledge,and the show of the diversity social thought and culture. However,the change of the think tank is the result of interaction of multiple factors, social demand, culture, science and technology,ideology and information,and emerges through the way of government leading,market guidance and the change of think tank.As the positive change of think tank,the development of think tank includes the progress and promotion of human resources,organizational structure,scale,theory,research methods, intellectual products and the core idea. Based on different analyzing points,the development of think tank shows in different types,such as endogenous and exogenous,progressive and leap-forward,coordinated and non coordinated. In different periods,think tanks show different development stages, development characteristics,mechanisms and target selections. At present,think tanks’ development show that the research services from single extend to multiple changes,development and service mode from industrialization,localization extend to internationalization,network and information technology services,and it brings the convenience and intelligence of the research means.The motivations of ancient Chinese think tanks changes mainly include political culture,social needs and knowledge of science and technology,the political and cultural factor(the foundation of political and ideological and cultural environment) as the main body,played a leading role,and provided the important political and ideological and cultural soil nutrition for the germination,survival and change of ancient Chinese think tank;The social demand was the basic factor of the ancient Chinese think tanks change. The dynamic factors of modern Chinese think tanks mainly include political culture,social demand,science and technology and ideology etc.The social demand plays a leading role,influence and determine the direction of the modern Chinese think tanks’ change;Development,innovation and application of science and technology promotes the innovation of modern think tanks’ research methods and tools. And the political culture plays a fundamental role in the changes.The development of Chinese think tanks need to start from government,society and think tanks aspects,and awareness the environmental atmosphere,capacity reserve,responsibility and global awareness as the main entry points. The government should build environment to promote the healthy development of think tanks,to promote the improvement of the decision-making system, to innovate the management system of think tanks;To create a more relaxed political atmosphere,and guide the public to participate in the policy process;Enrich the fund sources of think tanks. The society should expand the demand foundation to promote the coordinated development of think tanks,to understand what the think tankis;Participate in what think tanks do and evaluate the think tanks. Think tanks should reinforce the endogenous capacity foundation to promote the development and innovation,and clearify their own position and enhance the sense of responsibility brand. Strengthen the reserve and training of experts to enhance think tanks’ research ability and social influence.