City Leadership and Austerity: Political Strategies for Local Governing in Times of Crisis

Austerity is a dominant feature of the political landscape and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. The effectiveness of the response from local elected political leaders, to the pressures for reductions in public provision at a time of growing demand, will depend on the strategies they develop in a situation where they must wield influence rather than power over a range of external organisations operating in complex governance networks. What city leaders do is important to policy success (centrally and locally), economic growth, public service transformation and policy learning within an international setting, all of which critical at a time of austerity. Papers will be asked to address and explore the following: • how city leaders engage in governance networks to shape policy responses to austerity and pursue economic growth; • what strategies city leaders devise to enhance governing capacity to solve complex issues in times of austerity; • how city leaders employ a democratic mandate to construct coalitions around policy problems; • what factors stimulate or hinder the influence and effectiveness of city leaders in governance networks? • what strategies do leaders develop to enhance their influence in governance networks; • what lessons can be learned from strong and accountable city leadership in times of austerity; • how the concepts of policy entrepreneurs, policy communication and information networks can be used to strengthen policy transfer internationally across local government The workshop welcomes: theoretical, methodological and comparative papers aimed at conceptualising the issues above and empirical papers. The latter should aim to apply their data to theoretical models designed to illuminate and dissect the multi-faceted strategies developed by city leaders dealing with austerity.