29.10.2015

ANALYTICAL CENTERS OF THE REGION (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey)

INTRODUCTION

In the realities of the modern political and societal processes that evolve under rules of a cold war, the security of any society is essentially dependent on its intellectual and generally, creative resources. Only the availability and proper organization of such resources may allow adequately comprehend the current multi-dimensional and often chaotic challenges, as well as develop and implement appropriate strategies and responses. On the other hand, the notion of intellectual resource is quite wide and involves management, educational, scientific, spiritual and cultural aspects. In this overall system, the analytical centers (think tanks) occupy a special niche, as they are intended for direct participation in developing and implementing the above mentioned strategies through their applied R&D in various areas. In the American tradition (as the USA is where the first such centers were established) it is common to call them “think tanks” (TT). Characteristically, the TTs often are described as “thought factories”, organizations that “produce national interests” or “create ideologies.” As it was formulated in mid-20th century, the TT should act as a link between academic/scientific community and the so-called “decision makers”, the powers that be ¹. Currently, the emergence of multi-polar world order is accompanied by dramatic increase of the number of think tanks, and in some countries (e.g. China) even government-level decisions are made and programs are implemented to establish and develop TTs.

It is thus implied that in order to fully assess the countries’ potential and uncover their geopolitical or geo-economic “coordinates”, a systemized and analyzed information on a given country’s TT system is required. No wonder since 2009 University of Pennsylvania publishes the Global Go to Think Tank Index, which encompasses TTs involved in political, economic, social, security and other studies ². Similar investigations on TTs are also implemented by the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies (RISS). Therefore, it can be stated that systematization of information on TTs and study of their activities has become a pressing issue in the context of the national security.

At the same time, it is known that in the conditions of the current (already fifth) global revolution, the information flows have increased drastically and nowadays it is a serious challenge to conduct an objective analysis of such enormous volumes of information. In addition, in “cold war” realities the rating/ranking lists are often used for propaganda and manipulation. Hence, the Global Go to Think Tank Index or any other studies do not always reflect the activities of regional TTs in an unbiased and complete manner. This concerns also the TTs that work in our neighboring countries: Georgia, Azerbaijan and Turkey. There is probably no doubt that under quite a complicated geopolitical situation, for Armenia’s (RoA and NKR) military-political and analytical communities any additional information on the neighbors’ TTs could be useful and have applied significance.

With the mentioned circumstances in mind, in this work an attempt has been made to present the preconditions for establishment and development of Georgian, Azerbaijani and Turkish TTs and other similar research centers, their strategic priorities, connections with government, scientific and international structures, etc. The project has been implemented by a joint task force consisting of experts from Noravank Foundation and ASUE Amberd Research Center, and the work will continue in this direction.

¹ Арутюнян Гагик, Распад «системы» и формирование будущего, НОФ «Нораванк», Ереван, 2011, Գագիկ Հարությունյան, «Ուղեղային կենտրոնները» և ազգային անվտանգությունը, «21-րդ ԴԱՐ», #1 (35), էջ 5, 2011։

² http://www.scribd.com/The-Think-Tanks-and-Civil-Societies-Program/d/26565307.

ANALYTICAL CENTERS OF THE REGION (Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey) (in Armenian, 9.69MB)