A Revisit of the Global Go to Think Tanks Report Index Understanding Think Tanks in South Asia: What Are They and What They Do?

This article attempts to understand the think tanks in the South Asian countries. It explores their nature, research areas and the challenges. To this end, the research questions explored in this paper are: What are the state and nature of think tanks in South Asia, and what are their research domains? Why the think tanks in South Asia are still under flourished? Do the think tanks of South Asian countries play a significant role in the areas of policy making? What are the challenges the South Asian think tanks facing? To understand the think tanks in the South Asian countries, it compares with the state, nature, and the areas of activities of the think tanks of Western and non-Western countries and regions based on the '2020 Global Go To Think Tank Index Report.’ It argues that the number of think tanks in most South Asian countries is very few except in India. Compared to the other regions and the top-ranked countries, their areas of activities are very limited. Based on the KI interviews it found that the South Asian think tanks are facing various challenges and therefore, they do not significantly affect government decisions in most South Asian countries primarily due to the democratic deficit in this region.