Influencing as a learning process : think tanks and the challenge of improving policies and promoting social change

This working paper was prepared for the Conference “Think Tank Exchange” organized by the Think Tank Initiative in South Africa, June 18-20, 2012.This conference paper aims to redefine policy influence and broaden the view of the work think tanks carry out. It draws from twelve accounts of policy influence from research centers participating in the Think Tank Initiative (from Africa, Latin America, and South Asia). The study concludes that think tanks are political actors, a role that exceeds the traditional view of think tanks as knowledge producers and communicators. Consequently, for research organizations to successfully influence policy they must develop the internal capacity to lead in complex scenarios