Quango

A quango (quasi-autonomous non-governmental organization; also QUANGO) is a corporation, authority or other organisation, formed outside of government-proper, to which a government has devolved power over certain public functions; the organisation has some independence but still partly or ultimately controlled or financed by ministers or other government officers. The acronym was originally derived from quasi-NGO, where NGO is the abbreviation for a non-government organization, the quasi thus qualifying the 'non'. Subsequently, the term acquired the additional "-autonomous" to emphasise the partial separation and semi-independence of the typical quango from its creating government.

The substitution into the name of near (in place of non), to yield quasi-autonomous near-government organisation (also abbreviated QUANGO), is perhaps the most accurate and most descriptive nomenclature, capturing the proximity to the public sector—and the 'almost'-governmental nature—of such bodies.

As all versions of the name suggest, quangos are hybrid organizations, with elements of their structure, organisation and governance taken from both NGOs, on the one hand, and regular or mainstream public sector bodies on the other. Although originating in the United States, the term is primarily used today in the United Kingdom—as well as, to a lesser degree, other countries in the core and middle Anglosphere.

In the UK, quango is not an official term — it has been described as pejorative and "highly emotive", with some using it disparagingly to criticise duplicative and wasteful bureaucracy, politicians' avoidance of difficult decision-making, and reductions in democratic accountability. It nevertheless covers various British arm's-length bodies (ALBs) (the official term), including non-departmental public bodies ("semi-autonomous public bodies") (NDPBs), non-ministerial government departments, and executive agencies.