Whether citizens should directly elect the mayor or whether only councillors should be able to indirectly choose the local political to the exclusion of the public from the process, is one of the most controversial debates ...

The chapter aims at highlighting and analyzing attempts to restore or improve the existing institutions of representative democracy – the councils and the councillors – in 15 different European countries, from a comparative ...

Much has been made of the dual polity concept of local government. By comparison less has been made of conceptualising local government’s dual purpose role. The political and service provision roles of local government ...

The paper reports the results of research conducted among councillors in England which explored how they operate in complex governing networks where they interact with a range of public and private bodies. Councillors, as ...

Reforming local government is a tool of government policy when faced with local, national and international pressures for change and no more so than in times of political, social and economic crises. The re-design of the ...

The chapter examines the organisation, activities and impact of party politics on the role of the county councillor as an elected representative. It will examine the way county councillors respond to party group demands ...

The way local political leaders construct a vision for their localities, develop support and followers and effect action are shaped by factors both within and beyond the control of the leader. The constitutional setting ...

A feature of English local political folk-lore is the belief among national political parties, that Independent councillors are Conservatives in disguise. Yet, little evidence is given to support this idea because little ...

The article reviews the recent Institute for Fiscal Studies (IfFS) report, English Council Funding: What’s Happened and What’s Next. The article provides an overview of the main themesand findings of the report which examines ...