This book is about the practices, roles and impacts of directly elected mayors in the cities that they govern. The volume draws on recent, original research evidence, as interpreted by authors in several different countries, to locate the debates on directly elected mayors in context in Europe, the US, and Australasia.

Contributions by: Alasdair Blair, Paweł Swianiewicz, Christine Cheyne, Katarzyna Szmigiel-Rawska, Colin Copus, Petr Jüptner, Adam Gendzwill, Paul Burton, James Svara, Nasrul Ismail, Paul Hepburn, Nicola Headlam, Howard Elcock, Thom Oliver, Robin Hambleton