Think tanks are seen to occupy an important role within development policy processes. They
are receiving significant attention and investment as donor countries and organisations believe
that public policy is enhanced if it is informed by research-based evidence. We can safely trace
the proliferation of think tanks across the world – from Latin America to the Balkans across the
Middle East and towards East Asia. They are not an Anglo-American phenomenon nor are they
all primarily situated in national policy spaces. In fact, different patterns of think tank
development can be identified. However, systematic accounts that can adequately describe the
historical development of think tanks in developing regions are scarce. Consequently, western
conceptualisations have reigned throughout the literature of think tanks and have obscured
their nature and character in other parts of the globe.