The concept of intergovernmental relations (IGR) primarily focuses on the interactions among different levels and types of governments. With the proliferation of the concept of governance that calls for more actors in the public affairs arena, the traditional focus of IGR is challenged. The objectives of this article are to perform a fresh review of the concept of IGR and the practice of IGR research and to address contemporary challenges to them. We find that although the pervasive concept of governance has played an important role in IGR, it is confronted with a number of crucial questions, one of which is related to its inadequate consideration of democratic accountability and legitimacy. We further assess that in getting to questions of accountability and legitimacy of governance approaches, the IGR literature has inadequately considered the implications of organizational complexity typically found in governance arrangements. Applying theoretical and analytic lenses of organizational complexity, we offer two suggestions for the future of IGR to make it analytically more robust and better capable of answering questions regarding accountability and legitimacy dimensions of governance. First, we argue that the urban regions of the world should receive more attention as dynamic IGR laboratories from students of IGR. Second, we suggest that hybrid organizational analysis can be a powerful addition to the analytic toolbox of IGR to explore the impact of organizational complexity on governance arrangements.

Digital transformation offers transformative potential for public service delivery, yet many local administrative organizations (LAOs) in Thailand struggle with integrating digital tools effectively into their workflows. This study investigates the integration of social listening tools (SLTs) to enhance the efficiency and responsiveness of public service delivery in Thailand’s LAOs. The primary goal is to redesign traditional, manual workflows through the development of a digital-by-design framework, addressing inefficiencies in public engagement and service provision. Employing a mixed-method approach, this research combines interviews and focus groups with municipal staff from four municipalities in Northeast Thailand to identify challenges and co-create solutions. The redesigned workflow integrates digital practices into existing organizational structures and achieves a significant 282% improvement in efficiency, measured in transactions per manpower-hour. Additionally, the new process enhances operational speed, responsiveness, and public engagement. To ensure sustainability, this study recommends a phased implementation strategy and consistent staff training. This research contributes to the public administration literature by providing a practical, scalable framework for digital transformation in local governance. It underscores the potential of SLTs to modernize public sector workflows, enabling more dynamic, responsive, and citizen-centric interactions between LAOs and the communities they serve.

This study aimed to investigate the success factors for transforming classrooms into learning communities in digital learning ecosystem (DLE) of Thailand’s secondary schools. Quantitative research was conducted by using a questionnaire as the research instrument to measure teachers’ evaluation of factors. Purposive sampling was applied to obtain a sample group of secondary schools. The questionnaires were sent to teachers at secondary schools in 20 provinces in Northeast Thailand that were employing the smart learning project for their teaching and learning. Data analysis was performed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis. The results revealed that learning support technologies, teachers, and learners were the three most important factors influencing the development of DLE (x =4.64, x =4.61, and x =4.49, respectively). The findings of this study have implications for educators, administrators, and teachers to review and discover appropriate ways to invest the necessary conditions that can enhance the quality of DLEs and improve teaching and learning activities in the digital environment at secondary schools.

This study is a cross-national exploration of the relationship between the varying degrees of police decentralization and police intensity. Decentralization allows more local choice about policing and police intensity, which allows citizens to express their preferences. Using policy intensity as a proxy for preferences, the paper tests whether police intensity varies between decentralized and centralized systems. The objectives are, first, to examine the association of centralized and decentralized police systems with police intensity via empirical analyses of 70 countries, and, second, to examine the association of centralized and decentralized police systems on police intensity in more and less developed countries. Findings from random effects estimations show that, in the 70 sample countries, more decentralized police systems are inversely associated with police intensity, measured as the number of general purpose police per capita. However, when the countries are categorized as more and less developed based on the Human Development Index, decentralized police systems tend to be positively related to police intensity in countries with a higher index but inversely in countries with a lower index. These findings suggest differential effects of police decentralization, and perhaps decentralization in general, between the two groups of countries.

Purpose: Municipal amalgamation (or merger or consolidation) is commonly employed in countries around the world to improve efficiency in public service. While mergers occur among jurisdictions of all sizes, the municipal amalgamation discourse is typically limited to one national setting and a focus on mergers of larger local jurisdictions. The existing municipal amalgamation literature pays little attention to predicate conditions for successful mergers. This study seeks to address these deficiencies by examining the premerger conditions and effects of municipal amalgamations that recently took place in four small jurisdictions of similar size in Thailand and the United States.Design/methodology/approach: A holistic multiple case study approach was employed. These two cases share a geographical attribute: one municipal jurisdiction encircled by another.Findings: The evidence indicates that factors associated with what the researchers refer to as “familiarity” facilitated both successful approval of and outcomes resulting from the amalgamation actions. While the study's findings align with international research regarding the potential for reducing administrative support costs through consolidation, its findings diverge from existing international evidence in that the evidence indicates operating effectiveness and efficiency improvements. Economies of scope and marginal economies of scale are in evidence. Although findings from this study indicate that there might be problematic effects regarding political representation and participation, in that the consolidated jurisdictions remain small in size, negative citizen engagement and participation consequences may be less than that evidenced in larger consolidated jurisdictions.Originality/value: The study introduces the “familiarity” theorem as a theoretical lens to assist in understanding the cases.