ABSTRACT
The major purpose of this volume is to find an answer to the question-who rules?-for a small American city and to extend the answer through relevant theory to American cities in general. More precisely, we seek to find answers to the following questions: What are the relationships between the rulers (those whose preferences are carried out in decisions made by the community) and the ruled? How are the rulers (leaders) related to one another? Are the rulers the same fo~ all policies or do they differ from one area of policy to
another? How do leaders arise, and in what ways are they different from other people? What strategies are pursued by leaders and what makes them successful? How is reputation for leadership related to the actual exercise of leadership? What, in brief, is the most accurate description of the political system, the interaction among the leaders and the led?
