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The European mayor - Political leaders in the changing context of local democracy

https://doi.org/10.5878/002426
Major structural changes have been taking place in European local government systems around the turn of the millennium. Changes that have already had substantial consequences for local political leadership and are likely to bring about further change in the future. A number of such restructuring trends are sweeping over the continent, but from different starting points, at varying pace and in various mixed configurations. The research was designed to assess how, by playing on these different contexts, the restructuring trends and reforms inscribed in the wider framework of increasing global exchanges impact on the concept and praxis of political representation at local level. Four different trends of change are in focus: structural transformations in terms of privatisation, contracting out and general mimicry of private sector institutional arrangements ('New Public Management'); changes in central-local relations, most often in form of decentralisation, whereby new tasks have been allocated to the local level; the importance of political parties; internal institutional arrangements of local authorities. Central topics in the study are recruitment processes, perspectives on democracy, leadership styles, networks, intergovernmental relations, the importance of the party system and horizontal power relations in the local government organization.
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Creator/​Principal investigator(s):

  • Henry Bäck – Göteborgs universitet - Förvaltningshögskolan
  • Rikke Berg – Syddansk Universitet - Institut for Statskundskab
  • David Sweeting – University of the West of England - Faculty of the Built Environment
  • Vicki Johansson – Göteborgs universitet - Förvaltningshögskolan
  • Folke Johansson – Göteborgs universitet - Statsvetenskapliga institutionen
  • David Karlsson – Göteborgs universitet - Förvaltningshögskolan
  • Franz Fallend – Universität Salzburg - Fachbereich Politikwissenschaft und Soziologie
  • Herwig Reynaert – Universiteit Gent - Vakgroep Politieke wetenschappen
  • Kristof Steyvers – Universiteit Gent - Vakgroep Politieke wetenschappen
  • Zdenka Vajdová – Akademie ved Ceské republiky
  • Michal Illner – Akademie ved Ceské republiky
  • Ulrik Kjaer – Syddansk Universitet - Institut for Statskundskab
  • Eric Kerrouche – Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Bordeaux
  • Hubert Heinelt – Technische Universität Darmstadt - Institut für Politikwissenschaft
  • Björn Egner – Technische Universität Darmstadt - Institut für Politikwissenschaft
  • Michael Haus – Technische Universität Darmstadt - Institut für Politikwissenschaft
  • Nikos Hlepas – National University, Athens - Department of Political Science and Public Administration
  • Panagiotis Getimis – Panteion University, Athens - Department for Regional Economy and Development
  • Gabor Soós – Tocqueville Research Center, Budapest
  • Gyorgyi Ignits – Tocqueville Research Center, Budapest
  • Paula Russell – University College Dublin - School of Geography, Planning and Environmental Policy
  • Annick Magnier – Università degli Studi di Firenze - Dipartimento di Scienza della Politica e Sociologia
  • Pippo Russo – Università degli Studi di Firenze - Dipartimento di Scienza della Politica e Sociologia
  • Chiara Zanoccoli – Università degli Studi di Firenze - Dipartimento di Scienza della Politica e Sociologia
  • Giovanna Cutrone – Università degli Studi di Firenze - Dipartimento di Scienza della Politica e Sociologia
  • Irene Borselli – Università degli Studi di Firenze - Dipartimento di Scienza della Politica e Sociologia
  • Nicola Malloggi – Università degli Studi di Firenze - Dipartimento di Scienza della Politica e Sociologia
  • Clemente J. Navarro Yanez – Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Sevilla - Departemento de Trabajo Social y Servicios Sociales
  • Bas Denters – Universiteit Twente - Politicologie en Onderzoeksmethoden
  • Harry Daemen – Erasmus Universiteit Rotterdam
  • Pawel Swianiewicz – Universytet Warzawski - Wydzial Geografii i Studiów Regionalnych
  • Manuel da Silva e Costa – Universidade do Minho
  • José Pinheiro Neves – Universidade do Minho
  • Jean Dominique Ackle – Universidade do Minho
  • Carlos Alba – Universidad Autónoma de Madrid - Departamento de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales
  • Carmen Navarro – Universidad Autónoma de Madrid - Departamento de Ciencia Política y Relaciones Internacionales
  • Daniel Kübler – Universität Zürich - Institut für Politikwissenschaft
  • Pascal Michel – l'Université de Lausanne - Institut d'etudes politiques et internationales

Research principal:

Data contains personal data:

No

Citation:

Language:

Method and outcome

Unit of analysis:

Population:

Mayors and corresponding top local political leaders in charge of local authorities with more than 10.000 inhabitants.

Time method:

Sampling procedure:

Time period(s) investigated:

Variables:

323

Number of individuals/​objects:

2711

Weighting:

Weight compensation for rate of response.

Data format/​data structure:

Data collection Självadministrerat frågeformulär: papper

Mode of collection:

Självadministrerat frågeformulär: papper

Time period(s) for data collection:

2002-12-01 - 2004-07-01

Data collector:

  • Göteborgs universitet, Förvaltningshögskolan

Source of the data:

  • Befolkningsgrupp

Instrument

Name:

Type:

Semistrukturerat frågeformulär

Geographic coverage

Geographic location:

Administrative information

Responsible department/​unit:

School of Public Administration

Topic and keywords

CESSDA topic classification:

Swedish Standard Classification of Research Subjects 2025:

Publications

Citation:

Bäck, H., Heinelt, H., & Magnier, A. (2006). The European Mayor : Political Leaders in the Changing Context of Local Democracy. Urban and Regional Research International, Volume 10. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften. ISBN-10 3-531-14574-6. ISBN-13 978-3-531-14574-7.

Links:

Metadata

Version 1.0
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Version 1.0 published:Metadata updated: