“智库的捐助方正越来越多地决定着他们资助的研究项目,他们正在成为研究的干涉者,具有高度影响力。”美国一些著名智库早已具备广泛影响力,从国家安全、经济分析、社会福利到资源与环境政策,从美国如何持续繁荣到如何与其他各国发展关系,这些智库常常充当着国家和决策者们的“外脑”。它们之所以能够辅助决策,很大程度上源于其能够跳出利益藩篱,独立思考,客观分析。如果把国家比作山,那么智库就是山外的旁观者,它们 “Think tanks donors are increasingly deciding on the research projects they fund and they are becoming interveners and highly influential.” “Some well-known think tanks in the United States already have broad-based influence, ranging from national security and economic analysis , Social welfare to resources and environmental policies, how to sustain the prosperity of the United States and how to develop relations with other countries, these think tanks often act as ”foreign brain " of countries and policymakers. The reason they are able to assist decision-making is largely due to their ability to jump out of the fence of interests, independent thinking and objective analysis. Think of a country as a mountain, then a think tank is a spectator outside the mountains, and they