Journal of International Business and Management 1(1): 1-13 (2018)

Print ISSN: 2616-5163

Online ISSN: 2616-4655
 

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The Role of Think Tanks in Social Policy-Making:

The Bangladesh Perspective
Md. Monirul Islam
Bangladesh Institute of Governance and Management (BIGM), Bangladesh

Abstract
Think tanks uphold up-to-date policies through evidence-based research, the
exchange of views and ideas among multifarious stakeholders, and civic activism
in most of the countries of the world. Historically, the formation of the Clarkson's
Committee in the US is regarded as the first think tank, which focused its efforts
against the African Slave Trade in 1782. Now, in many countries of the world,
especially in Bangladesh with different nomenclatures, these think tanks are
playing a crucial role in different affairs of the state and society. The prime focus
of this study is to examine the role of think tanks in social aspects, such as with
health, education, gender, poverty, and the environment. Based on secondary data
and information derived from literature reviews, the author quite strongly argues
that the think tanks of Bangladesh are playing a very positive role in social policy
making through research, dialogue, programs, projects, and civic activism.
However, it has also been found that Bangladesh’s think tanks have witnessed
some gaps in terms of performance in comparison to global think tanks when
playing a role in the policy-relevant issues. Hence, some recommendations have
been made to improve the roles of think tanks in Bangladesh.
Keywords: Think Tank, Role, Policy, Social Policy-Making, Bangladesh
Entrepreneur
*Corresponding author: Md. Monirul Islam; E-mail: [email protected]
Submission Date: 8 April 2018
Revision Dates: 28 April 2018 and 12 May 2018
Accepted: 20 May 2018

Introduction
Amid the inclusion of governance phenomena in the governing process of state, the
politico-administrative model has changed, with the assembly of socio-political actors
becoming the partners of the governments of different countries of the world. Think tanks
as such sort of actors like lobby groups, NGOs, research institutes, public relation agencies,
and development institutions, and function coherently at a striking rate to design public
policies in social areas, including health, gender, education, culture, and the environment
(Urrutia, 2013; Shaw, Russell, Parsons, & Greenhalgh, 2015; McGann, 2018). Thus, the

 
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social roles of think tanks have been predominant in the realm of the governance of the
country.
Despite the enormous roles of think tanks in the policy-making process, existing
researchers barely cover their social role within this process. However, this paper seeks to
answer what role think tanks play in social policy-making in certain countries, such as
Bangladesh. With this backdrop, this study is attempting to examine the roles of the think
tanks of Bangladesh in social aspects such as health, education, gender, poverty, and the
environment. Based on secondary data, content analysis is carried out by reviewing the
relevant literature. The first section of the study elucidates an introduction, together with
the study’s conceptual framework based on literature reviews. The second section
underscores the objectives and the methodological interpretation of content analysis,
following a ‘theme-based analysis’ approach for interpreting the social policy-making role
of Bangladesh’s think tanks. The third section pinpoints the performance gap between
global think tanks and those of Bangladesh, and the last section presents the study findings,
concluding observations, and recommendations.

Literature Review
The whole gamut of literature, which revolves around think tanks, can be categorised as:
definitional; a think tanks way of working and their roles in social policy making. In
general, think tanks produce accumulated ideas or thoughts and inevitably disseminate
these ideas to the targeted spheres, especially the policy-relevant fields (Shaw, Russell,
Parsons & Greenhalgh, 2015; Haughton, & Allmendinger, 2016; Salas-Porras & Murray,
2017; McGann, 2018).
Think tanks are mainly categorised into public and privately sponsored, which
brings together a batch of professionals carrying out research in the respective fields of
orientation and pushing their study outputs to the public to influence them (Islam, 2007;
Weaver, 2017; McGann, 2018; Coman, 2018). Ahmed Khaled Rashid is of the same
opinion on the influencing role of think tanks over the citizenry life. He quoted that, “think
tanks have enormous potential to offer independent, reliable, accessible, and useful
information that could assist better policy making, which could positively impact on the
lives of the citizens” (Rashid, 2013).
Think tanks have a myriad of area-concerned motives that they intend to fulfil
through their activism (Urrutia, 2013; Weaver, 2017; McGann, 2018). In this regard,
Ahmad and Baloch (2014: 103) pointed out that, “a think tank is an institute, organisation,
or corporation, that conducts research and engages in advocacy in areas such as social
policy, political strategy, science or technology, industrial or business policies, as well as
military advice”. Goodman (2005) emphasised problems in different policy-relevant fields
and their solutions to satisfy prescribed goals, stating that, “a think tank is an organisation
that sponsors research on specific problems, encourages the discovery of solutions to those
problems, and facilitates interaction among scientists and intellectuals in pursuit of these
goals”. In fine, as policy institute, research organisation, think tanks are engaged in
conducting rigorous research work, advocating in different areas such as social, political,
scientific, technological, industrial and military policy orientated areas of the country.
Think tanks encourage well-versed policies through proof-based research, multi-
stakeholder discourses, public activism, and effective outreach in most of the countries of
the world (CPD, 2018; McGann, 2018). To accelerate the works of think tanks, there are
some significant components that constitute the think tanks. Haass (2002) quoted that,
“think tanks influence the policy-making process in many ways, such as generating
 
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original ideas, supplying a ready pool of experts for employment in government, offering
venues for high-level discussions, educating citizens, and supplementing official efforts to
mediate and resolve conflict”. These think tanks are playing roles not only in political,
economic, and foreign affairs, but also in social policy-relevant issues (Lupton and Hayes,
2018). In fact, think tanks’ operational agendas cover all sides of public policy by
‘advocating’ (Rich, 2004; Lupton and Hayes, 2018) and encouraging government
cooperation to reach the optimal level of policy decision.
Think tanks have a significant role on the social policy-relevant issues in many
countries. For instance, “society as a whole, on local, regional, and international levels,
stands to gain by their research, outreach, and the policy discussions they aim to lead”
(Sheikh, 2015). Education is the main social issue on which think tanks’ policy exchange
programs are myriads in the different parts of the world. In general, think tanks carry out
crucial programs in the educational sector and circulate suggestions for government and
other stakeholders to influence their concerned works (Slay, 2017; Lubienski, Brewer & La
Londe, 2016; McGann, 2018). The gender related policy research has been one of the
major parts of the policy research attributed to the global think tanks. The Institute for
Women’s Policy Research conducts and communicates research to encourage civic
conversation, suggest guiding principles, and develop the lives and privileges of women of
different levels and backgrounds (IWPR, 2015). “The think tanks dared to go beyond, there
is ample evidence that think tanks, even those started by the leading political analysts and
economists, are striving to make policy on social issues (Nader, 2015).”

Literature Review in Brief

Concept of Think Tank How do Think Tanks Act Role of Think Tanks in Social
Policy Making
As policy institutes, research Idea generation; providing a Positive role of think tanks on
organisations, think tanks are group of experts, professionals, social policy making in the
engaged in conducting rigorous and intellectuals to advise; country through research,
research work, advocating in organising a platform for dialogue, discourse, and civic
different areas such as social, rigorous conversation, teaching activism.
political, scientific, technological, of the citizens, and adding
industrial, and military policy- official endeavour to solve
orientated areas of the country. problems and conflicts.

Conceptual Framework
A conceptual framework is a systematic device with several variations and contexts. It is
used to make theoretical characteristics and systematise ideas. According to Ticehurst and
Veal (2000: 32), “a conceptual framework indicates how a researcher views the concepts
involved in a study-especially the relationship between concepts”. Greater clarity in
understanding the concepts addressed in this study indicate the relationship between the
studied variables (Cooper & Schindler, 1998; Kumar, 1997). To give direction to the
present study, the researcher developed a conceptual framework based on insights gained
from previous study, mainly conducted by Richard N. Haass (2002) and other scholars.
From the literature review, the author designed the following conceptual framework:

 
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 Figure-1: Conceptual Framework

The explanation of these variables is as follows:

Generating Ideas: The main function of the think tank is to develop an original idea to
provide policy input to the relevant agencies, organisations and policy makers, (Weaver,
2017). Think tanks, as public policy research organisations, produce new ideas that help
formulate the future policy of the state. Most of the think tanks are very much concerned
with focusing the issues to the consideration of the policy-makers and the people through
providing concrete research, debate, and useful ideas and suggestions (Talbott, 2002).
James Allen Smith (1993) considers think tanks in the name of one of his books ‘The Idea
Brokers’.
Supplying a Pool of Experts: As independent and non-profit organisations, think tanks
mostly depend on experts and their ideas exerting influence on the policy making process
(Rich, 2004; Hernando & Williams, 2018). Zhu views that even the administration of a
country urges the experts of think tanks to submit their research outcome for taking crucial
policy decisions (Zhu, 2009). To this end, think tanks, professional organisations, and even
the administration of a country, accelerates the process of supplying experts not only from
the native country, but also external countries, which creates an abundance of opportunities
for these experts to engage in policy process and research (Menegazzi, 2018; Hernando &
Williams, 2018).
High Level Discussions: Think tanks are very much concerned with drawing the attention
of policy makers to be engaged in public discussions concerning policy matters or changes
using different technological devices (Zheng, 2008; Hernando & Williams, 2018). The
think tanks assemble groups of individuals under their umbrella in the form of seminars,
symposiums, public lectures, and study circles with a view to enhancing policy discussion
and ideas for publication (Tesseyman, 1999). Think tanks exploit their potentials in the
policy domain, holding policy discussions and generating a platform for policy debate.
Moreover, these are the networking platforms in the policy process espousing the room for
discussion (Rashid, 2013).
 
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Educating Citizens: Think tanks attempt to enlarge the policy sphere by offering
opportunities for knowledge, generating new ideas for debate, and educating public and
researchers with the keen realisation of facts (Rashid, 2013; Menegazzi, 2018). Many
global think tanks aim to take a broad-based policy attempt to educate the general masses,
suggesting that state authority and societal order come to a unique platform for developing
the process of public policy-making (Yong Tao, et. al, 2016; Weaver, 2017).
Supplementing Officials Effort: Think tanks have much enthusiasm to carry out studies
and generate impartial policy-orientated knowledge through supplementing official efforts
for mediating and resolving the inconsistencies among the different groups in the state.
Scholars, belonging to professional positions in think tanks, participate in assessing the
current global issues and the qualitative responses of the different governments worldwide
(Haass, 2002; Weaver, 2017; Lupton & Hayes, 2018).

Objectives of the Study

The study mainly aims to look into the role of Bangladesh’s think tanks with regard to the
social policy making decisions of the country. In addition, the study also aims to:

§ Identify the performance gap between global and Bangladesh’s think tanks; and

§ Provide suggestions for the think tanks of Bangladesh to play a vital role in the social
policy making of the country.

Methodology of the Study

This study is mainly a qualitative study in the form of exploration. To explore the study
objective, the author conducts content analysis. Content analysis is the well-recognised
system of analysing the documents. Cavanagh (1997:5) stated, “content analysis allows the
researcher to test theoretical issues to enhance understanding of the data. Through content
analysis, it is possible to distil words into fewer content-related categories. It is assumed
that when classified into the same categories, words, phrases and the like share the same
meaning”. Data is analysed using the content analysis framework of theme, form, amount,
and location (Raman, 2006; Azim et al., 2011). The current study is mainly based on
‘theme’ in which the study uses the ‘theme-based analysis’ for the social role of the think
tanks of Bangladesh.

Data Collection
The author collects data from secondary sources by reviewing peer reviewed journal
articles, books, websites, op-ed of different dailys—national and international, conference
papers, and reports of the works of different think tanks worldwide, especially Bangladesh.

Limitation of the Study

The study is mainly based on secondary data, which is the first and foremost limitation of
the study. Besides, the concept of the think tank, its typology and components vary from
one theorist to another. It brings opaqueness in theory formulation. Despite an abundance
of think tanks existing in Bangladesh, the researcher chooses only sixteen think tanks as

 
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the study sample. A smaller number of think tanks constrain to get the optimal result of the
study.

Methodological Interpretation of the Study

Content analysis is a research method based on the content of a particular document.
Raman (2006) stated that data is analysed using the content analysis framework of theme,
form, amount, and location. Apart from other analysing frameworks of content analysis,
the present study covers the ‘theme’ based analytical tool to reach the study objective. The
study uses the ‘theme-based analysis’ for the think tanks of Bangladesh to examine their
roles in social policy making.

Theme-based Analysis for the Role of Bangladesh’s Think Tanks in

Social Policy Making
This section analyses the content of sixteen think tanks of Bangladesh, with a view to
looking into their role in social policy formulation based on ‘theme-based interpretations’.
The present study constructed a list of five themes being educational, poverty, health,
gender, and environmental issues of the social role of Bangladesh’s think tanks.
The think tanks of Bangladesh are multidimensional in that they play roles in the
different socio-economic, political, and environmental issues needed for their
development. In some situations, they are government research institutes and are
distinguishable from government research organisations. Some are occasionally associated
with university-affiliated research centres and institutes. In some instances, research
organisations are interest group based. The study takes sixteen think tanks of Bangladesh
that are categorised into government, independent, civil society, and interest group based.
Under this disposition, think tanks in Bangladesh are contributing to the social policy
making that the study vividly shows.
The Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies (BIDS) is a government think
tank familiar with their role in providing policy input to the public policy-makers of the
country. The BIDS Act 2017 (Article-6) sets out a plan to be adopted for social welfare
activities as the part of policy suggestion to the economic development of the country.
Section-E (BIDS Act 2017) underscores the conduct of the survey concerning social
welfare to organise discussions, seminars, and panel discussions to achieve the set goals.
BIDS’ functions are multi-dimensional, which aim to “promote excellence in policy
research and extend the knowledge frontiers to facilitate learning in development solutions,
especially in priority areas of development related to the social well-being of the poor and
disadvantaged groups in society; collect and generate socioeconomic data to facilitate the
conduct of analytical research on current economic and social issues and facilitate
development planning and policy formulation by the government; and disseminate
knowledge and research based policy options to the policy makers and assist them in
designing credible development strategies for achieving economic and social goals”
(BIDS, 2018).
As an independent non-profit and social action-based research centre, the Power
and Participation Research Centre (PPRC) has been playing a crucial role in conducting
research and policy advocacy on poverty, social protection, land, inclusive growth,
governance, local governance, quality, basic education, and sustainable urbanisation. The
mission and vision of the centre elucidates to “advance the causes of empowerment and

 
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responsible citizenry, elimination of poverty, promotion of innovations and quality
presence in global discourses” (PPRC, 2018).
The Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies (BCAS) is working as an
independent, non-government, policy, research and implementation institute on Sustainable
Development (SD) at local, national, regional, and global levels. BCAS promotes
multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to run programs and projects by
working under four broad themes, such as “environment-development integration, good
governance and people’s participation, poverty alleviation and sustainable livelihoods, and
economic growth and public-private partnership”. The overall aim of BCAS is to provide
guidance and practical solutions to promote sustainable development, eradicate poverty,
improve access of the poor to resources, and ensure social justice” (BCAC, 2018).
The Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD) as a civil society think tank, promotes
informed policies through evidence-based research, multi-stakeholder dialogue, civic
activism, and effective outreach. CPD mainly researches on nine crucial areas, such as
“macroeconomic performance analysis; resource mobilisation and fiscal policies; poverty,
inequality and social justice; agriculture and rural development; trade, regional cooperation
and global integration; investment promotion, infrastructure and enterprise development;
climate change and environment; human development and social protection; and
development governance, policies and institutions” (CPD, 2018).
Together with other broad-based objectives, the Bangladesh Institute of
International and Strategic Studies (BIIS) aims mainly to assume and encourage studies,
research, and dissemination of knowledge in the fields of international relations, national
issues, and policies relating to security, defence and external relations, and international
peace and security including strategic aspects, and to assist the Government, when required
by it, in the planning, formulation, and implementation of policies in relevant fields (BIIS,
2018).
The Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) is a non-party,
non-profit, and independent think tank that offers a significant realm for academics, retired
members of civil, foreign, and armed services, and media personalities to locate the broad-
based agenda for peace and security issues. BIPSS has a four-part mission, which is to
create a vibrant centre for researchers and policy communities; gather people from related
disciplines and produce a new batch of analysts, scholars, and policy makers; and sponsor
projects for keeping domestic and international peace in the twenty first century (BIPSS,
2018).
The Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI) encourages and articulates the issues of
importance to the private sector and seeks to persuade policy-makers. The institute also
initiates measures crucial to the growth of a market-orientated economy in addition to the
sustainable development of trade, commerce and industry. The BEI has a keen interest in
the issues relating to regional and sub-regional cooperation in South Asia in areas of trade,
investment, environment, transport, security, energy, and water resources (BEI, 2018).
For investing in women leadership and empowering women in all spheres of
society, Bangladesh Women’s Foundation (BWF) was established in 2003. It mainly aims
to bring positive changes to the livelihoods and well-being of women across the country.
The foundation specifically funds and supports innovative transformative women’s rights
initiatives, with the aim of creating a society on the basis of gender equality, human rights,
and social justice. In fact, by supporting women, BWF intends to build dynamic
communities through leadership development for bringing a sustainable change in their
lives (BWF, 2018).
 
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 As a leading multidisciplinary research-come-action organisation, the Human
Development Research Centre (HDRC) has been working in Bangladesh since 1999. The
HDRC’s major areas of research are, “health and family planning, child and maternal
issues, livelihood and food security, adolescence and youth, water-sanitation, poverty, land
issues, indigenous people in hills and plains, public financing, management accounting,
energy economics (focusing on rural electrification), migration and remittances, tobacco
economics, governance and decentralisation, unit cost/value for money, value chain
analysis, and gender” (HDRC, 2018).
Unnayan Onneshan is an independent research institution that aims to progress
science-led independent research, evidence-based innovative approaches to public policies,
ground-breaking alternative solutions on the ground, and empowering capacity building
and community-based management for contributing towards progressive social
transformation. It covers the area of health, education, poverty, and social protection,
labour and worker’s rights, gender equality and women rights, climate change and disaster
risk. The institute has four wings to study such as an economic policy unit, social policy
unit, ecology and environment unit, and a capacity development and program management
division (UO, 2018).
The BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) at BRAC University,
is a research centre that is creating knowledge in areas of governance, economic growth,
political economy, urbanisation, gender issues, sustainable development, and regional
studies. The objective of BIGD is to support its academic and training programs. “It does
not limit knowledge creation to being an end in itself but rather to advance the pursuit of a
just and prosperous society. Hence, it also plays an advocacy role to give voice to
contemporary governance, political, and economic issues (BIGD, 2018).”
As a national legal aid and human rights organisation, Ain o Salish Kendra (ASK)
assists people in legal issues to support the disempowered, especially women, working
children, and general workers. It aims at creating a society on the basis of equality, social
and gender justice, and rule of law (ASK, 2018).
The goal of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) is to reinforce “a
participatory social movement to promote and develop institutions, laws, and practices for
combating corruption in Bangladesh...” (TIB, 2018).
As a non-government think tank, the main objective of SHUJAN is to set up
democracy and good governance in all spheres of the state and society (SHUJAN, 2018).
BRAC as a non-government and self-sustainable organisation, is providing poor
people with the privilege in alleviating their poverty. It is also working in educational and
health development programs along with other activities through their own network of
development programs, social enterprises, and investments (BRAC, 2018).
Grameen Bank (GB) as non-government and semi think tank organisation, gives
credit to the poor people without any collateral to fight poverty with a view to bringing
development to the socio-economic fields of Bangladesh (Grameen Bank, 2018).

A detailed list of themes is presented in the table below:

 
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Theme-based Result and Discussion
A theme-based content analysis of the social role of Bangladesh’s think tanks shows that
sixteen of these, in any mean, relates to the theme of the study or social policy-relevant
issue of the country. Seven out of sixteen think tanks are directly working with alleviating
poverty. In addition, environmental issues have been highly prioritised under the program
of think tanks, as it has been a severe threat to the human life. The present study reveals
that there are four think tanks, which are working in this field to add policy input. But most
of the think tanks that were studied are indirectly working with social issues in the
achievement of social goals, such as social justice, social protection, peace, and security.
The study also finds that some of the think tanks of Bangladesh have specific programs,
but their roles are seldom traced out in the policy making process of the country. Notable
to say that government think tanks mainly conduct policy design, analysis, advocacy, and
input insertion programs, and privately owned and interest group-based think tanks carry
out policy persuasion, promotion, initiative, and support based programs in the social
policy making process of Bangladesh. Notably, both the government and the private think
tanks are widely engaged in policy advocacy programs.

Performance Gap between Global and Bangladesh’s Think Tanks

Bangladesh’s think tanks witnessed some gaps in terms of performance in comparison to
global think tanks in playing a role in the policy-relevant issues. Some of the global think
tanks belonged to ideological agendas or a specific partisan approach, but these lobby
policy makers intend to implement their agendas (Talbott, 2002). Despite a partisan
approach, these think tanks take their stand on behalf of the interest of their respected
countries. But Bangladesh’s think tanks, especially privately-owned think tanks, show their
intention to satisfy specific partisan interests, which leads to the biasness in providing
policy inputs.
Global think tanks carry a mammoth capacity and a steady pool of resources to
analyse the policy. In Bangladesh, many think tanks do not have such aptitude or the
resources to deal with policy-relevant issues and assume convincing independent research
and analysis. Global think tanks’ areas of actions are diversified but think tanks in
Bangladesh have inadequate space to play a significant role in the broader aspects of
society. Besides, there is the lack of specific issue or policy-orientated think tanks to show
their extraordinary performance in the particular field of orientation. One set of literature
(Zafarullah, 2007: Stiles, 2002) tends to “support this observation by pointing to the
inhibited role and contribution of the think tanks in the policy debate”.

Under the collaboration approach, think tanks in different countries, especially the
US, are invited by the political sources to share policy relevant facts with a view to
culminating in policy decisions. It is barely present in Bangladesh. Compared to global
think tanks, one group of literature (Young, 2005: Huque, 2010: Zafarullah & Rahman,
2008) quoted that, “think tanks remain less effective due to the limited space for policy
discussion and advice and the lack of interest or unwillingness of policymakers to listen to
other stakeholders”. In this regard, global think tanks are institutionally strong and mostly
independent in their kind. A think tank’s capability to persuade policies is closely
associated with their institutional strengths or limitations. These aspects include funding
issues, policy autonomy, research capacity, leadership and governance, and effective
communication of research findings. Several authors (Srivastava, 2011: Mathur, 2009: Hay
&Sudarshan, 2010) postulate that, “think tanks in Bangladesh face challenges in terms of
 
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research quality, maintaining a long-term research agenda, and funding, which undermines
their ability to affect policies”.

Concluding Observations and Recommendations

Think tanks worldwide have been a crucial phenomenon due to their massive role in
policy-relevant issues, especially social issues, such as education, health, poverty, gender,
and the environment. Developed and developing countries are utilising the potential of
think tanks in different ways. Studies reveal that think tanks usually generate ideas, provide
massive resource persons, organise high level discussions and roundtable conferences, and
play a role as policy mediator, to help the state authorities design effective policies,
especially in social areas. Think tanks’ roles in these sectors are quite mentionable to
satisfy the desire of the people. As an emerging country, Bangladesh may utilise the
potential of think tanks as followed by the different countries of the world. The study also
found that Bangladesh, as an independent country, witnessed the experience of think tanks
resulting in the non-achievement of set goals to add policy inputs into the public policy-
making process, particularly social policy making. In this regard, this study makes the
following suggestions:

• Bangladesh’s think tanks should achieve needful capacity and have a steady stream
of resources to deal with policy-relevant issues and assume convincing independent
research and analysis.
• Bangladesh’s think tanks need adequate room to take a significant role in the
broader aspects of the state and society.
• The think tanks of Bangladesh should ensure the character of a specific field of
orientation for providing expertise and highly professional data support for policy
issues.
• Think tanks must be free from any sort of biasness and partisan character, only
considering the national interest.
• Think tanks need to maintain foreign collaboration for receiving policy guidance
and experience from the experts of foreign think tanks.
• All think tanks prevailing in Bangladesh must have a ‘social policy-relevant wing’
to ensure their impact on the social policy-making process.
• The role of Bangladesh’s think tanks in social issues must be specific, need-based,
and directly policy orientated to achieve optimal output.

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