Hubert Heinelt is Professor of Public Administration, Public Policy and Urban Research at the Institute for Political Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany. Annick Magnier is Professor of Urban Sociology and Jean Monnet Chair in ‘The City in European Integration’ at the Department of Political and Social Science, University of Florence, Italy. Marcello Cabria is a PhD candidate in a joint programme between the Department of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Florence, Italy, and the Department of Cultures, Politics and Society at the University of Turin, Italy. Herwig Reynaert is Professor at the Department of Political Sciences and the Dean of the Faculty of Political and Social Sciences at Ghent University, Belgium.                                          ;

“This volume provides a thorough and extensive expert-led comparison of the European mayor within the current context of administrative and territorial local government reforms across the continent. … This volume will undoubtedly be an extremely valuable starting point for future comparative research into local political leadership, particularly elected mayors.” (Rachel Wall, Local Government Studies, Vol. 44 (06), 2018)

• Chapter 1. Introduction; Hubert Heinelt, Annick Magnier, Marcello Cabria and Herwig Reynaert.- Chapter 2. Local government systems: Grasping the institutional environment of mayors; Hubert Heinelt, Nikos Hlepas, Sabine Kuhlmann and Paweł Swianiewicz.- Chapter 3. From the few are still chosen the few? Continuity and change in the social background of European Mayors; Kristof Steyvers and Lluis Medir.- Chapter 4. How to become a mayor? Mayoral career patterns, seniority and ambitions; Jérémy Dodeigne, Joanna Krukowska and Aistė Lazauskienė.- Chapter 5. Institutional environments and mayors’ role perceptions; Ivan Koprić, Eva Marín Hlynsdóttir, Jasmina Džinić and Enrico Borghetto.- Chapter 6. Mayors’ notions of local democracy; Angelika Vetter, Hubert Heinelt and Lawrence E. Rose.- Chapter 7. Leadership Styles of European Mayors: How much have they changed over the past twelve years?; Nikos Hlepas, Thanos Chantzaras and Panos Getimis.- Chapter 8. Mayors’ agendas: Emerging variations on the theme of entrepreneurialism; Marcello Cabria, Annick Magnier and Patricia Pereira.- Chapter 9. Political leadership in issue networks: How mayors rule their world?; Bas Denters, Kristof Steyvers, Pieter-Jan Klok and Daniel Čermák.- Chapter 10. Mayors and vertical relations after the financial crisis; Oliver Dlabac, Marta Lackowska and Daniel Kübler.- Chapter 11. Mayors and Parties; Björn Egner, Adam Gendźwiłł, Paweł Swianiewicz and Werner Pleschberger.- Chapter 12. Mayors in the Town Hall. Patterns of relations and conflict among municipal actors; Carmen Navarro, David Karlsson, Jaume Magre and Iveta Reinholde.- Chapter 13. Mayors and Administrative Reforms; Sabine Kuhlmann, Markus Seyfried and Irena Bačlija Brajnik.- Chapter 14. Mayors and spatial planning in their cities; Annick Magnier, Panos Getimis, Marcello Cabria and Luis Baptista. Chapter 15. Conclusion; Herwig Reynaert, Hubert Heinelt, Annick Magnier and Marcello Cabria.                ;