Local Executives in United States

Local Executives

Richard C. Feiock and Jungah Bae, in the chapter “Local Executives” of the Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government, offers some insight and critically assesses the situation and current state of scholarship on the topic. The following is a summary:This chapter examines local executive leadership and the current and future demands on these leaders, including complications raised by jurisdictional competition, and globalization, as well as the pressing needs to act and cooperate regionally. This chapter also highlights important gaps in our understanding of the local executives. The theory and empirical work employed to address key issues such as policy outcomes, network governance and turnover is almost entirely based on the study of municipal governments, with little application to special districts, counties, and other forms of local government. The authors outline how these gaps in the literature might be addressed and the research opportunities they present.

Further Reading

• “Local Executives”, The Oxford Handbook of American Politics