Political Leaders and Changing Local Democracy The European Mayor [Hardcover]

This book studies political leadership at the local level, based on data from a survey of the mayors of cities of more than 10,000 inhabitants in 29 European countries carried out between 2014 and 2016. The book compares these results with those of a similar survey conducted ten years ago. From this comparative perspective, the book examines how to become a mayor in Europe today, the attitudes of these politicians towards administrative and territorial reforms, their notions of democracy, their political priorities, whether or not party politicization plays a role at the municipal level, and how mayors interact with other actors in the local political arena. This study addresses students, academics and practitioners concerned at different levels with the functioning and reforms of the municipal level of local government.                                                                                                                           Chapter 1. Introduction; Hubert Heinelt, Annick Magnier, Marcello Cabria and Herwig Reynaert.- Chapter 2. Local government systems: Grasping the institutional environment of mayors; Hubert Heinelt, Nikos Hlepas, Sabine Kuhlmann and PaweB Swianiewicz.- Chapter 3. From the few are still chosen the few? Continuity and change in the social background of European Mayors; Kristof Steyvers and Lluis Medir.- Chapter 4. How to become a mayor? Mayoral career patterns, seniority and ambitions;l£,