Thinking about think tanks in the South Caucasus

This post introduces a new series on "Thinking about think tanks in the South Caucasus", edited by Dustin Gilbreath. The series explores the think tank landscape in the South Caucasus as a region as well as in each of its countries – Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. Read full article

What does the think tank landscape in Armenia looks like? Yevgenya Paturyan provides insights into how connected these organisations are (you will be surprised). This is the third post from the series: Thinking about think tanks in the South Caucasus. Read full article

By formerly being under the influence of the Soviet Union, Azerbaijan faced particular barriers and opportunities while its Western-like think tanks were developing. In this post, part of the Thinking about think tanks in the South Caucasus, Zaur Shiriyev discusses this challenges and explains how do they shape the think tank landscape in the country today. Read full article

Do think tanks promote independent policy research and critical thinking, or simply serve to push pre-defined policy agendas defined by their funders? While in in September 2014, the New York Times alleged that foreign donors were attempting to “buy influence” through the funding of think tanks in D.C., this post argues that US funders might be doing just that, and quite openly, in countries like Georgia. This is the fifth post from the Thinking about think tanks in the South Caucasus series. Read full article

Policy research relevant for or published by South Caucasus think tanks if mostly published in English. This presents a communications challenge where English is not the first language. For the sixth post of the series Thinking about Think Tanks in the South Caucasus, series editor Dustin Gilbreath discusses a common problem identified across the series: the challenges of language and audience in the region. Read full article

Think tanks can play a critical role during election processes. For boutique think tanks, elections can present important opportunities to get their messages on their sector of expertise across. In this post Tutana Kvaratskhelia discusses how World Experience for Georgia plans to work during the upcoming elections to promote the use of evidence for policy in sustainable energy. This post is part of the Thinking about think tanks in the South Caucasus series. Read full article