Understanding local political leadership: constitutions, contexts and capabilities

This article is innovative in theoretical terms and has significant policy relevance. The authors use a ‘new institutionalist’ approach, linked to their 2005 JRF research project on political leadership, to critically analyse the government’s assumptions about the benefits of strong, charismatic, individual leadership in local government. It has stimulated, through presentations at policy oriented conferences, a more informed and balanced debate about the current role of local political leadership