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Organizations of the state, often working with market and civil society organizations, are centrepieces of public governance. They collectively exist and operate in multiple arenas and, in doing so, make widely encompassing contributions to public life in the public interest. Their form, powers, purposes and performance can, and do, differ considerably from one type to another. This is particularly so where they are semi-autonomous executive bodies, statutory bodies and state-owned companies rather than centralized ministries and departments subject to direct government control. Their form and powers are ostensibly determined by governments as being well suited to purposes to be achieved through appropriate performance. Accordingly, it is important to know why and how they are, or can be, justified as such, as guided and informed by an understanding of their existence and operation.

This synthesis concludes this Special Issue (II) by revisiting and extending the synthesis which concluded Special Issue (I) in December 2015. The focus is again on instrument-action alignments in governance in terms of their nature, pervasiveness and warranting. Of particular interest are inherent challenges of diversity, interconnection and responsibility which require appreciative, integrative and legitimation capacities. These challenges and capacities, involving their form, significance and intertwining, are central to the thematic interests and concerns of the Special Issues.

This synthesis begins with propositions concerning instrument-action alignments in governance which underpin the Special Issue and companion Special Issue in March 2016. Thereafter, instrument choices and efficacy are considered with reference to how the alignments are crafted, as influenced by their nature, pervasiveness and warranting. An appreciation of these matters assists in understanding important thematic interests and concerns of the Special Issues.

The symposium is introduced here as heralding the beginning of a new era for the journal. Significant aspects of public administration are addressed concerning power as its lifeblood and basis of its institutional-organisational configurations, roles, responsibilities, control and legitimacy. The discussion of these matters sets the scene for the analyses in the following articles.

How can the idea of 'community', and the energies and ambitions invested in 'community', be harnessed in the service of the public interest through expression in appropriate forms of organisation? This key question, involving aspects of the state, government, civil society and market, underpins the discussion here, leading into a rich array of country examples in subsequent articles. How can we discover more about ownership in the dynamic world of public governance?

This article identifies a number of ways in which governance thinking has raised issues of ownership and management in organisations with public-serving roles. It tracks backwards to consider how such issues have been handled in the past: notably in the theory and practice of socialisation and nationalisation, in the adoption of cooperative and mutual forms of organisation, and in the use of enterprises mixing public and private ownership, with some fairly novel recent developments being noted. It then explores how these arrangements are affected by various rights to own and manage organisations and by the ways in which such rights can be exercised to protect and promote significant interests. The questions and issues considered suggest useful lines of future organisational inquiry.

This article serves to introduce the symposium. It does so by providing relevant historical perspectives and raising some contemporary issues and concerns about the use of public enterprises. It recognizes that public enterprises continue to make a significant contribution to economic and social development throughout the world. Accordingly, they need to be acknowledged and studied as being an integral part of modern governance.

This brief concluding article highlights some of the key issues which are inherent in the country studies and of which reformers ought to be especially conscious when they seek to establish companies or similar types of corporations in government. The identification of these issues is followed by an overview of some operational arrangements on which future research could usefully focus. The issues concern the publicness, performance and suitability of companies, while the research targets are the command, exchange and associational relationships in which companies are involved. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This article serves to introduce the symposium. It does this by explaining the bases of the research and outlining the main dimensions of government companies which are the central focus of most of the country studies. The dimensions covered include the legal characteristics of companies, their management and financial arrangements, and the means by which they are controlled and called to account. These dimensions are considered in various ways in the country studies, and some of them are revisited in the concluding contribution to the symposium which addresses a number of ongoing issues as well as indicating possible lines of future research. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.