In many European countries, local political leadership is in transformation. The latter is often seen as a response to the emergence of local governance, entailing the proliferation of governing institutions (multi-level) and the development of new networks and policy initiatives (multi-actor). The complexity and fragmentation that stem from these shifts evoke dilemmas of coordination and accountability. As a cure, strengthening local political leadership is often turned to. Leaders are expected to pull the frameworks of local decision-making together, act as entrepreneurs in an increasingly competitive environment and function as figureheads of the municipality. It is to the impact of these transformations that this book turns in focusing on the acquisition, the performance and the consequence of local political leadership in transformation. The book provides a comparative account of these issues in bringing together a selection of leading scholars in this field in Europe. Table of contents Comparing Local Political Leadership in Transformation Kristof Steyvers, Herwig Reynaert, Pascal Delwit and Jean-Benoit Pilet English Elected Mayors: Developing a New Form of Local Political Leadership in England, or Moving On in the Same Old Style? Colin Copus Neither Notables nor Party Men but Established Policy-Makers. ‏The Intentional and Perverse Effects of the Direct Election of Italian Mayors Annick Magnier and Clemente Navarro-Yanez Mayors as New Political Oligarchs/Magnets in Turkey: Patterns of Transition from Local Politics to National Politics and Vice Versa Fethi Açikel and Sarp Balci The Ascent of the Directly Elected Mayor in European Local Government in West and East Hellmut Wollmann ‘De Burgemeester’: Netherlands’ Mayoral Leadership in Consensual Democracy and Collegial Policy-making? Linze Schaap The Statesmanship Effect. Local Leadership and Policy Priorities in Sweden David Karlsson and Malgorzata Erikson Local Leadership in a National Context: A Franco-English Comparison of Institutional Frameworks and Political Cultures Michèle Breuillard and Stéphane Guérard The New Urban Leaders: Changing Modes of Operation and Legitimacy Amongst Local Elected Officials in Venice and Manchester Gilles Pinson Belgian Mayors and Governors. Leadership in a Changing Multi-level Context Tony Valcke From Committees to Cabinets: the Transformation of English local Government Nirmala Rao Immune to Reform? The Nordic Mayor Jacob Aars Directly Elected Mayors on the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia: Between Authoritarian Local Political Top Bosses and Citizen-Oriented Local Managers Ivan Koprić Local Political Opportunity Structures as Action Arena For Mayors. A ‘Mediating Filter’ Between Local Groups And Local Political Leaders Clemente Navarro-Yanez The Quasi-Presidentialisation of Local Political Systems: Causes and Consequences Jean-Benoit Pilet, Pascal Delwit, Kristof Steyvers and Herwig Reynaert