Abstract:

The mission of the think tanks has been submitting advice and providing knowledge, idea and analysis to contribute and play a role in the policy process. Think tanks have expanded in number and improved their power not only in the North America and Western Europe, but also towards the other regions of the world in piecemeal. Think tank studies in Turkey have mostly been concentrated on foreign policy and strategic research centers. Studies examining think tanks in terms of their role in the public policy process have been scarce. In this context, this study aims to investigate think tanks’ role in the policy-making process, the tools and strategies they employ and their capacity to influence policies through discussing their position in the political arena. It is believed that revealing the relation between public policies and think tanks in conceptual and theoretical terms will possibly provide a basis for the further empirical research.

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