Role of Think Tanks and Policy Analysis Institutes in Policy Making Process

This paper should be cited as: Atashbahar O,Ataaollahi F, Ranjbar M. Role of Think Tanks andPolicy Analysis Institutes in Policy Making Process.Evidence Based Health Policy, Management &Economics. 2017; 1(2): 65-73.ver the years, enormous role of policymakersin addressing health and human developmentoutcomes have been identified. So, existence oforganizations and think tanks as well as the resultsachieved from studies and analyses of publicpolicies have been diagnosed vital for long-termgrowth of a country (1). Achievements that can beexpected from such studies include: identificationof underlying supportive factors and creation of abarrier against policy change, identification ofstrengths and weaknesses in policy strategies,identification of different interest groups andanalysis of their role, position, and power toconsider these stakeholders in formulation offuture policy and manage them appropriately,identification of setting agenda process in order tounderstand emergence of a policy on the agenda,identification of political opportunities andbottlenecks in setting policy, further examinationof the extent to which policy-makers have beenable to achieve their policy goals, that is in factawareness about past successes and failures to planfor setting successful future policies and directingthe applied reforms or development of reformpolicies to address the adverse effects (2).