Think Tanks Beyond the West: The Case of the Western Balkans

Abstract

The emergence of think tanks beyond the West raises the question of how well existing classifications translate to new environments. This article assesses this question in the Western Balkans region, examining how the organisation of local think tanks differs from the Western model. Drawing on an original dataset of 68 organisations, we find that a majority reflect the think tank model outlined in the literature. Yet, while not entirely lost in translation, existing typologies fall short of fully capturing the Western Balkans think tank sector. This includes, inter alia, a substantial share of hybrid organisations that perform functions beyond those normally attributed to think tanks.

This work received no grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For more, see Struyk (2000) and Krastev (2001).

2 For example, see Struyk and Miller (2004) on Bosnia & Hercegovina; Bogdanović (2016) on Serbia; and Włoch and Xhindi (2020) on Albania.

3 This funding was supplemented by ‘other official finance’ provided by international development banks (Bartlett 2021).

4 Renata Włoch and Nevila Xhindi’s article on the Albanian think tank sector, mapping 50 NGOs that could be identified as think tanks, was only published in December 2020. Thus, it was not available during our mapping process and not all the 50 are in our sample. For instance, we did not include the Albanian Institute for Political Studies (Instituti i Studimeve Politike—ISP), the Agenda Institute (Instituti Agenda—AI), the Regional Environmental Centre Country Office (Qendra Burimore e Mjedisit—REC), the Open Society Foundation Albania (Fondacioni Shoqëria e Hapur për Shqipërinë—OSFA) or the Children’s Human Rights Centre of Albania (Qëndrën për Mbrojtjen e të Drejtave të Fëmijëve në Shqipëri—CRCA), which would have qualified under our criteria.

5 For details, see Appendix 1.

6 For a full list, see Appendix 2.

7 One Serbian think tank—the Bureau for Social Research (Biro za društvena istraživanja—BIRODI)—was only sent a questionnaire in May 2022, due to human error. BIRODI had not responded to the questionnaire by the time this article was submitted and was therefore not included in our study.

8 Although similar, in this study, the authors distinguish between think tank organisations and scientific research institutes. Think tanks in the Western Balkan region appeared in the 1990s as part of the civil society sector, registered as citizens’ associations or foundations, driven and primarily financed by foreign donors, while institutes are a legacy of the socialist past, founded and funded by the state. Their work is regulated by law in the field of science and research, under the authority of the ministry in charge of science. To be registered as a scientific research organisation, an institute has to meet the requirements for scientific research, as judged by the relevant ministry or by the government.

9 Specifically, no information on publications was available on the organisation’s website; the website was down; or the organisation did not have a website.

10 Discrepancies may be due to the nature of the answer, which was given in the form of ranges (for example, €10,000–50,000, €50,000–100,000, €100,000–200,000) and not absolute numbers.

11 Calculation based on the €/$ exchange rate for 1 April 2021.

12 State funding may come in various forms, including direct government grants, public procurement contracts, government-affiliated foundations, ministries and departments, or local government funding.

13 Institutional grants serve to strengthen think tanks’ regular operations and sustainability, covering the costs of salaries, utilities or other operational costs.

14 See also Włoch and Xhindi (2020), Jezierska and Giusti (2021).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Irena Djordjevic Susic

Irena Djordjevic Susic, Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810–193 Aveiro, Portugal. Email: [email protected]

Carlos Jalali

Carlos Jalali, Associate Professor, Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP), Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences, University of Aveiro, Campus Universitário de Santiago, 3810–193 Aveiro, Portugal. Email: [email protected]