Table of Contents

List of tables. List of figures. City governments and their citizens: an overview of the book (T. Nichols Clark, K. Hoggart). The legitimacy of local government - what makes a difference? Evidence from Norway (L. Rose, P.A. Pettersen). Citizens, councilors and urban institutional reform: the case of The Netherlands (B. Denters). Municipal responsiveness to local interest groups: a cross-national study (K. Hoggart). Translocal orders and urban environmentalism: lessons from a German and a United States city (J. Sellers). The responsiveness of local councilors to citizen preferences in Stuttgart: the case of sports policies (M. Walter). Pledges and performance: an empirical analysis of the relationship between manifesto commitments and local services (G. Boyne, R. Ashworth). Urban policy-making in Germany: the impact of parties on municipal budgets and employment (V. Kunz). Politicization, neo-liberalism and new forms of local governance in Portugal (C.N. Silva) Enhancing local fiscal autonomy: the Japanese case with comparative reference to South Korea and the United States (Yoshiaki Kobayashi). Do new leaders risk shorter political lives? Assessing the impact of the new political culture (T.Nichols Clark). The contributors.