ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to map the broad contours of the leadership agenda now facing those involved in leading cities and localities in western democracies.1 The first section discusses theories and concepts relating to leadership by drawing on various disciplines. This discussion suggests that there are very different ways of conceptualising leadership and that much of the thinking relating to leadership is impaired by attachment to out of date models. One point, given emphasis here, is that effective leadership is situational – that successful leadership is shaped by and responds to the context within which leadership is exercised. The next two sections outline two shifts that are reshaping the context for the exercise of local leadership – the move from local government to local governance and the shift from public administration to ‘new public management’. These two shifts are not uniform across all countries but they do appear to have some kind of momentum in most OECD countries. It follows that forward-looking leadership needs to respond to these changes.
