Transforming Political Leadership in Local Government

Local governments throughout the west are undergoing a transformation of their leadership styles and structures. Some countries have abandoned traditional systems of collective or committee based decision-making in favour of Cabinet models or, more radically, a directly-elected executive mayor, while others have strengthened existing mayoral systems. There are a few exceptions to this trend. Based on original research in eleven countries the book assesses these changes in terms of their implications for political accountability, the role of lay politicians, political recruitment, the professionalization of leadership, and relations with the bureaucracy.

JOHAN ACKAERT is at Limburgs University Centrum, Belgium HARALD BALDERSHEIM Professor in Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Norway BAS DENTERS Professor of Urban Policy and Politics, University of Twente, The Netherlands JAUME MAGRE FERRAN Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Barcelona, Spain XAVIER BERTRANA HORTA Analyst, Centre for Local Innovation, Barcelona, Spain ERIC KERROUCHE Charge de recherche CNRS, France PIETER-JAN KLOK Department of Science, Technology, Health and Policy Studies, University of Twente, The Netherlands ANDRES LADNER Professor and Dr at the Kompetenzzentrum for Public Management, Switzerland HELGE O. LARSEN Professor at Nesna Unversity College, Norway STIG MONTIN Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Urban and Regional Studies, Orebro University, Sweden CLARENCE N. STONE Professor, George Washington Institute of Public Policy, George Washington University, USA JAMES H. SVARA Professor in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, North Carolina State University, USA HENK VAN DER KOLK Department of Political Science and Research Methods, University of Twente, The Netherlands HELLMUT WOLLMANN Professor, Department of Political Science, Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany