An organization or agency that is financed by a government but that acts independently of it.
[qua(si) n(on-)g(overnmental) o(rganization).]
Dictionary:
quan·go (kwăng'gō) ![]() |
[qua(si) n(on-)g(overnmental) o(rganization).]
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A quasi non-governmental organization is one created and funded by government, and, therefore, held to account for its expenditure, but given operational independence. The term was invented by Alan Pifer, President of the Carnegie Corporation, to describe such organizations which were appearing in the United States. Subsequently, political scientists, observing the closeness to government of some quangos in their operations, have preferred the term to mean quasi-governmental rather than non-governmental. In the United Kingdom the term has been applied to many forms of arms-length public provision showing a great diversity of purpose, including the BBC, the Welsh Development Agency, and the Commission for Racial Equality. Concern has recently been expressed at the tendency for power to flow from elected public bodies to unelected quangos, derisively dubbed ‘quangocracy’ by some.
— Jonathan Bradbury
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Quango or qango is an acronym (variously spelt out as quasi non-governmental organisation, quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisation, and quasi-autonomous national government organisation) used notably in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and elsewhere to label colloquially an organisation to which government has devolved power. In the United Kingdom the official term is "non-departmental public body" or NDPB.
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The term has its origin in a humorous shortening of quasi-NGO, an ostensibly non-governmental organisation performing governmental functions, often in receipt of funding or other support from government,[1] while mainstream NGOs mostly get their donations or funds from the public and other organisations that support their cause. Numerous quangos were created from the 1980s onwards. Examples in the United Kingdom include those engaged in the regulation of various commercial and service sectors, such as the Press Complaints Commission and the Water Services Regulation Authority.
An essential feature of a quango in the original definition was that it should not be a formal part of the state structure. The term was then extended to apply to a range of organisations, such as executive agencies providing (from 1988) health, education and other services. Particularly in the UK, this occurred in a polemical atmosphere in which it was alleged that proliferation of such bodies was undesirable and should be reversed (see below).[2] This spawned the related acronym qualgo, a 'quasi-autonomous local government organisation'.[3]
The less contentious term non-departmental public body (NDPB) is often employed to identify numerous organisations with devolved governmental responsibilities. The UK government's definition in 1997 of a non-departmental public body or quango was:
The use in the UK of executive agencies charged with service delivery functions has arisen alongside so-called non-departmental public bodies. These agencies do not usually have a legal identity separate from that of their parent department; and, unless they have trading fund status, their accounts form part of the accounts of the parent department. The National Health Service also has bodies called special health authorities, technically neither NDPBs nor executive agencies. The Department of Health chooses to designate all three types as "arm's length bodies".
Network Rail, responsible for the UK's railway infrastructure, may be regarded as a quango, subject, however, to the question of whether the entity is, as its formal structure might suggest, a non-governmental private company, or a state-owned enterprise.
List of QUANGOs in the United Kingdom
Ireland in 2006 had more than 800 quangos, 482 at national and 350 at local level, with a total of 5,784 individual appointees and a combined annual budget of €13 billion.[4]
The Times has accused Quangos of bureaucratic waste and excess.[5] In 2005 Dan Lewis, author of The Essential Guide to Quangos, for example, claimed that the UK had 529 quangos, many of which were useless and duplicated the work of others. In August 2008 a report by the pressure group the Taxpayers' Alliance, claimed that £15 billion was being wasted by the regional development agencies, quangos set up with the stated goal of encouraging economic development in their respective English regions.[6]
Britpop band Blur released a song called 'Mr. Robinson's Quango' on their 1995 album The Great Escape. The lyrics allude to Mr. Robinson being a 'dirty dealer' and a mason, as well as not doing very much, amongst other things.
Quangos were mentioned in several episodes of the popular British sitcom Yes Minister, which satirised political life. In particular, the chairmanship of a quango played a central role in the episode Jobs for the Boys from the first series of the sitcom.
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| Translations: Quango |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - selvstændigt organ finansieret af regering
Nederlands (Dutch)
quasi-onafhankelijke overheids- instelling
Français (French)
n. - (GB) organisme autonome d'État
Deutsch (German)
n. - halböffentliche Verwaltungseinrichtung
Ελληνική (Greek)
n., -
abbr. - αυτόνομος ημικρατικός οργανισμός ή φορέας
Italiano (Italian)
ente parastatale, ente inutile
Português (Portuguese)
n., -
abbr. - organização independente na Grã-Bretanha com poderes legais
Русский (Russian)
полуобщественная организация
Español (Spanish)
n. - organismo estatal semiautónomo
Svenska (Swedish)
abbr. - organ tillsatt av regeringen för att undersöka el åtgärda visst problem
n. - organ tillsatt av regeringen för att undersöka el åtgärda visst problem
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
半官方机构, 政府出资的非官方机构
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 半官方機構, 政府出資的非官方機構
한국어 (Korean)
n. - 특수법인, 독립 정부 기관
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) لجنه حكوميه ذات حريه العمل في مجال محدد
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ארגון, רשות או גוף ממשלתי אחר הפועל באופן עצמאי
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