Regional Public Sector Organizations: A broader taxonomic classification to cross-pollinate empirical research

The present scholarship on cross-boundary organizations of local governments often splinters its focus and investigates narrow species of organizations with specific powers or unique policy domains. However, many organizations share common governance structures and mechanisms. Investigating these commonalities from a broader perspective permits stronger cross-pollination of knowledge and sharpens generalizable theories of governance and administration. In this article, I first provide easily and unambiguously measurable criteria capturing a genus I term Regional Public Sector Organizations (RPSOs). These criteria rely on a rescaled common definition of International Governmental Organizations (IGOs). In the United States, this broad genus includes many species of public authorities, regional councils, and policy-specific organizations. Terminology may differ in other nations, but the underlying idea sustains. The second contribution is five research questions largely inspired by IGO scholarship. Considering the parallels of RPSOs to IGOs can chart a rigorous, empirical path toward more coherent theoretical conversations on regional governance.