New Report: Democracy Think Tanks in Action

WASHINGTON, June 3, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The National Endowment for Democracy's (NED) International Forum for Democratic Studies has published a new report, Democracy Think Tanks in Action: Translating Research into Policy in Young and Emerging Democracies. The report examines how leading democracy think tanks are finding ways to make a meaningful impact in their countries. Nine members of the Network of Democracy Research Institutes, a global think tank network, contributed essays analyzing their own efforts to achieve influence in young democracies or semi-democratic settings.

The report's overview essay is available here.

To one degree or another, the diverse countries in this report have vulnerabilities in their young or partially developed systems—including weak rule of law, insufficient transparency, and persistent corruption—that require dedicated reform efforts to prevent backsliding. The report findings emphasize the important role think tanks can play in addressing issues of civic consequence and improving the quality of discussion in the public sphere.

The report found that, among other approaches, think tanks are building new methods of communication with policymakers and the news media, and leveraging civic education to effect change. The contributors also cited the value of joint initiatives between think tanks and more action-oriented groups as an effective strategy for enhancing impact.

The following think tanks contributed to this report:

• Center for the Opening and Development of Latin America (CADAL, Argentina);
• Grupo FARO (Ecuador);
• Caucasus Institute for Peace, Democracy and Development (CIPDD, Georgia);
• Ghana Center for Democratic Development (CDD-Ghana);
• Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS);
• Romanian Academic Society (SAR);
• Institute for Public Affairs (IVO, Slovakia);
• East Asia Institute (EAI, South Korea); and
• Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation (TESEV).

The report is being launched at a June 3, 2013 panel discussion at NED that is being jointly organized by the NED's International Forum for Democratic Studies; the Latin American and Caribbean, and the Middle East and North Africa programs at NED; the Center for Independent Private Enterprise; and Atlas Corps. Speakers include report contributors Sami Atallah of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies and Orazio Belletini Cedeno of Grupo FARO (Ecuador), and comments by Sally Roshdy of the One World Foundation (Egypt) and Maksim Karliuk of the Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies. The report was made possible with the support of the Korea Foundation.

SOURCE National Endowment for Democracy