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This paper has several critical questions for quasi-governmental organizations. How well are quasi-governmental organizations monitored by the relevant oversight system? Do quasi-governmental organizations have good governance? How might quasi-governmental organizations be made to perform as well as intended? How might the public or national interest be protected aginst the interest of private parties? These are the central questions of this paper. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to review the overall status of quasi governmental organizations in South Korea, to examine the governance challenges they face, and to find possible measures for better governance of these organizations. A review of the necessity of governance innovation in quasi-governmental organizations will be followed by a discussion of governance innovations of quasi-governmental organizations, policy implications, and conclusions.

PurposeSeeks to examine changes in the environment in which public policy and public management operate and the claim that bureaucracy has been replaced by post‐bureaucracy as a result of these changes.Design/methodology/approachThe paper proposes reanimated public governance as a concept that occupies the space between public administration and transformed public governance (including reinvented government and new public management (NPM)). Rather than accepting the existence of post‐bureaucracy,per se, the paper argues that there has been a process of extending bureaucracy that cuts across public and non‐public boundaries rather than the development of post‐bureaucracyper se.FindingsIn examining the claims for post‐bureaucracy, The paper is witnessing a discourse and practice of continuity rather than difference. The need for economies of scale and scope, standardisation and the existence of indivisibilities in public services suggest that public sector reforms and proposals for new governance models establish extended or flexible forms of bureaucracy rather than post‐bureaucratic organisational forms. Attempts to introduce ICT‐based services and the need for regulatory agencies to oversee the contracts with private and non‐profit service providers reinforce these findings.Research limitations/implicationsThe arguments in this paper are based on marshalling the literature and debates surrounding public sector reform to advance a central thesis. It draws on real world examples but does not draw on direct empirical evidence. There is scope for internationally comparative case‐studies of various public service functions and discourses and practices in different countries.Practical implicationsPolicy makers and managers should treat the clarion call of post‐bureaucracy as a way of liberating public services from a lack of creativity, innovation and accountability with healthy scepticism. In particular, the view that public sector reforms through post‐bureaucratic re‐organisation will lead to efficiencies is one to be challenged. Reforms in any service driven organisation are not zero‐cost and any implied operational cost saving should be considered against increased transaction costs.Originality/valueThere have been heroic claims made for post‐bureaucracy in many organisations enabled by developments associated with the concepts of information society and knowledge society. By locating public sector reforms under the rubric of "reanimated public governance" a deeper investigation of the implications for the discourses and practices associated with public sector reform is advanced.

This article charts the evolving role of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) in Poland. It argues that changes to regional institutional and policy environments, linked to processes of regionalisation, EU accession, and the administration of European Union structural funds, have prompted increasing diversification of RDA activities. Moreover, questions of democratic accountability and economic efficiency are becoming increasingly pointed. Has regionalisation boosted the democratic accountability and regional orientation of agencies? Has administrative reform simplified agencies' delivery of development programmes? What influence has the administration of structural funds had on this? The article explores these issues, stressing generally that theoretical analyses of RDA activities must take increasing account of agency "positioning," i.e., their role and purpose in an increasingly crowded and complex regional policy arena. Future scenarios for the evolution of RDAs in Poland are also outlined.

The past decade has witnessed a remarkable expansion and globalisation of the private security sector. These developments mark the emergence of public—private, global—local security networks that play increasingly important roles in global governance. Rather than representing a simple retreat of the state, security privatisation is a part of broad processes in which the role of the state — and the nature and locus of authority — is being transformed and rearticulated. Often presented as apolitical, as the mere effect of market forces and moves towards greater efficiency in service delivery, the authority conferred on private actors can alter the political landscape and in the case of private security has clear implications for who is secured and how. The operation and impact of public/private, global/local security networks is explored in the context of security provision in Cape Town, South Africa.

In recent years local leaders have become simultaneously intensely local, in fostering partnerships with local players, and intensely global, in going abroad to get resources, be they political, cognitive, or financial, to implement large urban projects; they have become 'glocal' leaders. At the same time, local stakeholders such as metropolitan or regional authorities, chambers of commerce, firms, or civil society organizations have pursued their own international objectives independently. Not all cities have therefore developed such a thing as a strategy. Nor have they all played the same hand in the international game. From this, two questions immediately arise: (i) why have some cities succeeded in carrying out an international strategy and others not? (ii) why have the successful ones chosen different paths? By focusing on local political leadership patterns in three European case studies, we argue that along with their institutional strengths the personal traits of the mayors are more than crucial to understanding why some cities have strategically played the international game and how they have played it. But this does not tell the whole story. One needs to make a detour via place-specific governance patterns, and more precisely the key local stakeholders to be convinced, persuaded, or cajoled, to properly assess the urban international strategies. With these major findings, we conclude that the 'new international city era' phenomenon tends to personalize local power.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to identify the extent to which the corporate governance framework can be applied to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and discuss these issues further within the Ghanaian context.Design/methodology/approachAfter considering some of the key issues, the paper shows how relevant these issues are to the SME sector.FindingsIt is clear that corporate governance brings new strategic outlook through external independent directors and enhances firms' corporate entrepreneurship and competitiveness. Again the problems of credit constraint and managerial incompetence in the Ghanaian SME sector could also be overcome with a good corporate governance structure in place.Research limitations/implicationsThe discussion mainly focuses on corporate governance within the context of Ghanaian SMEs.Originality/valueThis paper provides conceptual insights on the application of corporate governance among SMEs.