Think Tanks: Their Expected Role in the Current Crisis

　Policymakers today desperately need more wisdom and knowledge to overcome the current politico-economic paralyses prevalent around the globe, ranging from security crises in the Middle East and on the Korean Peninsula to pervasive income inequality, and from pandemic dangers to global warming. Now is the time for every country to apply adroitly its past accumulated wisdom and knowledge in the real world. At the same time, every country has an educational opportunity to draw lessons from the current global crisis and share them with other countries. "There is no education like adversity," said the British statesman Benjamin Disraeli in his novel Endymion. Amid the daunting adversity of current times, think tanks, along with other institutions of higher learning, are expected to play an important role for better governance.
　This short essay tries to examine the role of think tanks in the current crisis by addressing the following questions: (1) What is a think tank? (2) How can we evaluate it? (3) What position do Japanese think tanks occupy in the world? and (4) How can Japanese think tanks make an effective contribution to better global and domestic governance? ......