This seminar focuses on political leadership on the local level. Theoretically, it touches several rather classical questions of political science: the tension between structure and agency, representation, democratic legitimacy as well as normative bias. Different local government systems will be covered regarding the position of influential stakeholders such as mayors or councillors providing empirical evidence from different cases. In the end, the implications of political leadership in municipalities for local democracy will be discussed critically.

Semester: ST 2025