ABSTRACT
A fresh examination of the relationship between two key issues in the on-going debate on urban governance - leadership and community involvement.
It explores the nature of the interaction between community involvement and political leadership in modern local governance by drawing on empirical data gathered from case-studies concerning cities in England, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, and Sweden. It presents both a country specific and cross-cutting analysis of the contributions that communities and leaders can make to more effective local governance.
These country specific chapters are complemented by thematic, comparative chapters addressing alternative forms of community involvement, types and styles of leadership, multi-level governance, institutional restrictions and opportunities for leadership and involvement, institutional conditions underpinning leadership and involvement, and political culture in cities. This up-to-date survey of trends and developments in local governance moves the debate forward by analysing modern governance with reference to theories related to institutional theory, legitimation, and the way urban leadership and community involvement compliment one another.
This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of politics and urban governance, and to all those concerned with questions of local governance and democracy.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|58 pages
Conceptual considerations
chapter 2|20 pages
Sustainability and policy challenge
part II|129 pages
Case study results
chapter 7|12 pages
The interplay of central and local
chapter 11|12 pages
Between vision and consensus
part III|113 pages
Comparative reflections