This special issue of Public Organization Review contains two mini-symposia. The first, “Sound Governance and Citizen Engagement” with two articles was born out of a panel on “Sound Governance and Citizen Engagement” at the 2012 annual conference of the American Society for Public Administration (ASPA) in March 2012. Professor Steven Ott of the University of Utah served as discussant on that panel, and provided valuable feedback and suggestions for revisions—he graciously accepted my request to take the lead on the symposium, review the papers for possible revisions, and provide an Introduction. He has done so, and his Introduction to the symposium is offered below. I thank Steve for his time, efforts, and numerous back and forth exchanges we have had over the last 6 months.

The second mini-symposium, “Citizenship and Governance in Asia” with three current articles, plus one to be published in a subsequent issue of Public Organization Review, was born out of an international conference on “Governance and Citizenship in Asia: Challenges, …..” held at the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIE) in Hong Kong in March 2011. It was sponsored and supported by the leadership of its President, Professor Anthony Cheung. I was honored by President Cheung’s invitation to serve as a Key Note Speaker of the conference. A number of good papers presented at the conference were reviewed by multiple external reviewers assigned by this editor, and I also read all of them, and ultimately three were selected for publications, which after several more revisions were included in the symposium. The fourth paper by this editor, still in final revision after receiving external comments, will be published in a subsequent issue. Subsequently, Professor Steven Ott was asked again to review and provide further suggestions for revisions, and provide a commentary essay to the three articles; he graciously did it, which is included here. I thank Steve for his time, efforts, and numerous e-mail exchanges we have had during the last 3 months. I must also thank Professor Ramesh of HKEI who also reviewed these papers, helped with the process, and offered a brief Introduction to the articles. Finally, I must appreciate the staff of HKEI, particularly Ms. Lo Ou Yu, who tirelessly followed up with messages, directions, and facilitated the process of getting these papers to where they are now—she has been instrumental in getting this mini-symposium accomplished. My special thanks to Ms. Lo and her colleague. Finally, Professor Cheung must be recognized for his leadership and support of this project.

Ali Farazmand

Editor