Mechanism of think tanks participation in the public administration of regional development

The participation of think tanks in the regional policy development is due to the need for professional support of this process. Imperfect forms of such assistance have led to the need to reveal and justify the organizational and legal basis for the participation of think tanks in the management of regional development, which is the purpose of this article. Defining the essence of think tanks and their classification, the author outlines the differences between such organizations and their common features. The research used both general scientific methods and the method of content analysis, in particular, to identify think tanks, that have regional development policy among the other areas of research. Thus, out of about 120 Ukrainian think tanks, 38 such organizations have been identified. They were classified into three groups according to the level of influence on regional policy. The author found that both think tanks and regional development agencies are participants in the expert support of the state regional policy development, but in accordance with the law both are not its entities. In order to increase the efficiency of these organizations, their cooperation is necessary, whereas there are arguments in its favor for both think tanks and agencies. Thus, based on the substance of think tanks, their participation in the information and analytical support to public administration is crucial for quality regional policy development. According to the results of the research, the organizational and legal bases of think tanks' participation in the management of regional development are substantiated. The article determines the purpose, forms, legislative preconditions, ways, advantages, and disadvantages of their interaction with regional development agencies