Local Government Studies

The impact of city-county amalgamations on small administrative units: evidence from land transfer in China The attitude of small units is crucial to the success of city-county amalgamations. This paper focuses on the impact of amalgamations on small units from the perspective of land transfers. Based on...

📢🆕NEW in Local Government Studies Journal: ‘The impact of city-county amalgamations on small administrative units: evidence from land transfer in China' from authors Tao Zheng and Bindong Sun.

doi.org/10.1080/0300...

From single-issue to sustained Influence: factors driving the endurance of local political parties This study aims to advance the understanding of new political party longevity by examining an overlooked phenomenon: challengers formed exclusively to run for local elections (‘local parties’, ‘loc...

📢🆕 in Local Government Studies journal, 'From single-issue to sustained Influence: factors driving the endurance of local political parties' by Felicia Andreassen, Gissur Ó Erlingsson & Susanne Wallman Lundåsen #openaccess

doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Managing inclusive co-creation processes in a superdiverse neighborhood: drivers of inclusion in the case of Rotterdam This study responds to the call in the literature for more attention to examine the inclusive nature of co-creation processes. It explores the dynamic nature of inclusion within co-creation process...

📢 🆕 NEW in Local Government Studies: 'Managing inclusive co-creation processes in a superdiverse neighborhood: drivers of inclusion in the case of Rotterdam' from authors Warda Belabas, Ingmar van Meerkerk and Thomas van den Kieboom. #openaccess

doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Politician–manager relationship, procurement decisions, and corruption risk in local governments This study combines agency and patronage theories to explore how the nature of local governing bodies – elected politicians or centrally appointed commissioners – influences managerial decisions an...

📢 🆕 in LGS Journal: 'Politician–manager relationship, procurement decisions & corruption risk in local governments' from authors Riccardo Mussari, Fabio Monteduro, Simona Caramia & Veronica Allegrini from the Department of Business & Law, Siena University in Italy.

doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Unlocking the potentials of Information and Communication Technology on citizen participation in Tanzania local government authorities: the citizen’s perspectives Globally, ICT use is considered vital for citizen participation in local governance. However, the impacts of ICT use on citizen participation in local governance of developing countries like Tanzan...

📢 🆕 NEW in Local Government Studies Journal: 'Unlocking the potentials of Information and Communication Technology on citizen participation in Tanzania local government authorities: the citizen’s perspectives' from authors
Nicholaus Ngowi, Gasper Kissoka & Parestico Pastory

doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Twitter communication in times of crisis: how do German local governments use and frame social media messages and how do citizens react to them? This study examines how local governments use social media during crises and how citizens respond to their communication. Focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic, we analyse over 50,000 social media post...

📢 🆕 NEW in LGS: 'Twitter communication in times of crisis: how do German local governments frame social media messages and how do citizens react?' Hannes Lampe & Dominik Vogel explore how different message framings affect citizen responses: #openaccess
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

When do cities propose taxes? Evidence from California municipalities, 1996–2010 What prompts city leaders to propose new taxes? While prior research emphasises voter preferences, this paper examines how fiscal constraints and city leaders’ own assessments shape municipal tax p...

📢 🆕 NEW in Local Government Studies Journal: 'When do cities propose taxes? Evidence from California municipalities, 1996–2010'. Daniel Alvord & Jennifer Nations find that city leaders’ negative evaluative assessments of fiscal outlook predict tax proposals in future years.

doi.org/10.1080/0300...

The responses of government officials to questions from local councillors: analysis from a blame avoidance perspective When legislators raise questions, their intentions are to expose executive shortcomings, as well as to prompt officials to acknowledge their responsibilities, in turn, demonstrating their professio...

📢 🆕 in Local Government Studies: 'The responses of government officials to questions from local councillors: analysis from a blame avoidance perspective' from authors Chun-Ming Tsui, Yu-Cheng Jiang & Hongwung Wang from Taiwan University #openaccess

Happy to see this one with Suzy Leland in @lgstudies.bsky.social get an issue. One of the first pieces on special district dissolution (3rd?).

What lies beneath these creatures of the state: understanding the death of specialised governments in the U.S.

📢 🆕 in Local Government Studies journal: 'Digital coproduction in Seoul: the case of Seoul’s government and citizen-led platforms' from Hanchan Hwang & Ran Kim. doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Contested waters: analysing third-party challenges in French water contract governance (2005–2023) The management of local public services, often debated during elections, is a growing concern for public authorities. When outsourced, these services can prompt legal challenges from third parties ...

📢 🆕 in Local Government Studies: 'Contested waters: analysing third-party challenges in French water contract governance (2005–2023)' by Justine Le Floch and Stéphane Saussier doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Are newcomers financially responsible? Evidence from close elections in Brazilian Municipalities This paper examines how mayors’ political experience impacts fiscal outcomes. Using a regression discontinuity design in highly-contested elections in Brazilian municipalities, we estimate the diff...

When judging papers for the the George Jones Prize, editors were also very taken with the following article, which had an early career researcher, Henrique Hott as lead author, ‘Are newcomers financially responsible? Evidence from close elections in Brazilian municipalities doi.org/10.1080/0300...

📢 🏆Simone van de Wetering wins the George Jones Prize for best paper in issue 50 of LGS with an early career researcher as lead author: ‘Facilitating citizen participation in marginalised neighbourhoods: selective empowerment in between vulnerability and active citizenship’ doi.org/10.1080/0300....

📢 🏆 Delighted to announce that Mildred Warner is the winner of the John Stewart Prize for the best paper published in issue 50 of LGS for her paper, ‘Pragmatic municipalism: privatization and remunicipalization in the US’ doi.org/10.1080/0300...
Free to access until the end of July 2026.

Cutting off the fiscal nose: the impact of anti-ESG policies on municipal borrowing costs in Oklahoma In response to a growing trend of investors choosing investments that prioritise Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals, some state governments have sought to prohibit state entities fro...

📢 🆕 in Local Government Studies: 'Cutting off the fiscal nose: the impact of anti-ESG policies on municipal borrowing costs in Oklahoma' from Travis Roach and Mariya Burdina doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Unsuccessful Political Parties. Exploring and Combining Party Death and Party Failure Julien van Ostaaijen and Sander Jennissen ‘I am fed up. It was interesting, fascinating, and frustrating. As a small faction it is difficult to be on top of everything and I noticed that I became l…

"I am fed up. It was interesting, fascinating & frustrating". Julien van Ostaaijen & Sander Jennissen explore why Dutch political parties lose their local representatives in this INLOGOV blog, based on the full article in Local Government Studies @peckersley.bsky.social
inlogov.com/2025/07/03/u...

The varied impact of direct democracy on local housing policies: unravelling the role of socioeconomic context Local opposition to high-density housing is a major contributor to the U.S. housing crisis, exacerbating challenges such as homelessness, food insecurity, and inequality. This study examines the ro...

📢 🆕 NEW in Local Government Studies Journal, 'The varied impact of direct democracy on local housing policies: unravelling the role of socioeconomic context' by Liu Menglin (Miley) from the University of California doi.org/10.1080/0300... #openaccess

Reelected mayors and local fiscal policy outcomes. Are incumbent mayors more competent compared to newly elected ones? This paper investigates whether the tenure in the mayoral office influences local fiscal policy. Utilizing data from Polish municipalities and employing a Regression Discontinuity Design focusing o...

📢 🆕 in Local Government Studies Journal: 'Reelected mayors and local fiscal policy outcomes. Are incumbent mayors more competent compared to newly elected ones?' by Joanna Siwińska-Gorzelak and Grazyna Bukowska

doi.org/10.1080/0300... #openaccess

The political dynamics of carbon emissions: evidence from Chinese firms The government plays a crucial role in promoting carbon emission reduction as a policy maker, regulatory enforcer, and market facilitator. However, the political dynamics of local officials can sig...

📢🆕 in Local Government Studies Journal 'The political dynamics of carbon emissions: evidence from Chinese firms' from Long Wang, Javier Cifuentes-Faura, Chang’an Wang & Xiaoqian Liu doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Forceful bike campaigners can undermine UK cycle lane planning, report finds Study interviewing councillors and officials shows transport projects can be hampered by ‘toxic’ online debates

Nice to see the Guardian pick up on a new @lgstudies.bsky.social article by @alexnurse.bsky.social.

The paper examines the often toxic nature of debates around local cycling infrastructure, and how cycling activists sometimes adopt counter-productive tactics

www.theguardian.com/news/2025/ma...

Unfolding the relationship between regional resilience and policy instruments: the case of Brexit and enterprise zones in the UK In an era marked by overlapping crises, the potential of policy instruments to help regions overcome these challenges remains insufficiently explored. This paper focuses on Enterprise Zones (EZs) i...

📢🆕 in Local Government Studies Journal: 'Unfolding the relationship between regional resilience and policy instruments: the case of Brexit and enterprise zones in the UK' from Sina Hardaker #openaccess
doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Reasons political parties lose their representatives. Combining party death and party failure Getting representatives elected is a key feature of political parties. In this article we explore the reasons why once successful parties fail to do so. We propose to better distinguish between the...

In our new article "Reasons political parties lose their representatives" @lgstudies.bsky.social we propose to better distinguish between party failure and party death, and to combine both in one theoretical model. The article is open access! www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Diverse roles and perceptions of public officials and NGOs in local citizens’ assemblies – A comparative analysis of the cases of Poland and Hungary This article explores the roles and perceptions of public officials and NGOs in climate-related citizens’ assemblies (CAs) organised at the local level in Poland and Hungary. Through in-depth inter...

🆕📢NEW in LGS journal: ‘Diverse roles and perceptions of public officials and NGOs in local citizens’ assemblies – A comparative analysis of the cases of Poland and Hungary Paulina Pospieszna, Magni Szymaniak-Arnesen, Daniel Oross & Gabriella Kiss #openaccess
doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Issue prioritisation decisions by local politicians: the role of order effects and justification requirements When taking issue prioritisation decisions within local governments, politicians have to process extensive performance information that includes multiple dimensions. As politicians are subject to c...

📢🆕 NEW in Local Government Studies, 'Issue prioritisation decisions by local politicians: the role of order effects and justification requirements,' by Amandine Lerusse doi.org/10.1080/0300...

📢🆕 in Local Government Studies: 'Perceived local government performance and people’s life satisfaction: the role of trust in local government and political participation' from Na Li & Mang He doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Unlocking pathways in constrained local governance: exploring paradiplomacy under competitive-disharmony through the case of Istanbul Amidst the complexities of globalisation and resurgent global protectionism, paradiplomacy emerges as pivotal in sub-state politics. This paper delves into the case of Turkish local governance post...

NEW in LGS: Unlocking pathways in constrained local governance: exploring paradiplomacy under competitive-disharmony through the case of Istanbul, authored by Ahmet Cemal Ertürk & Nur Sinem Kourou doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Unlocking pathways in constrained local governance: exploring paradiplomacy under competitive-disharmony through the case of Istanbul Amidst the complexities of globalisation and resurgent global protectionism, paradiplomacy emerges as pivotal in sub-state politics. This paper delves into the case of Turkish local governance post...

🆕📢 NEW in LGS: ‘Unlocking pathways in constrained local governance: exploring paradiplomacy under competitive-disharmony through the case of Istanbul’ from
Ahmet Cemal Ertürk and Nur Sinem Kourou doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Political competition and representation in municipal councils I study whether the numbers of high- and low-social status-individuals in French municipal councils are affected by the level of political competition. I argue that because the most-eligible positi...

📢🆕 NEW in LGS: 'Political competition and representation in municipal councils' Christophe Lévêque argues that political competition increases the number of high-status municipal councillors and is thus detrimental to the election of low-social-status candidates
doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Local passion and national apathy: investigating the phenomenon of selective voting behaviour Although there is a substantial difference in turnout between local and national elections, a significant number of citizens are locally mobilised yet they do not vote in national elections. While ...

🆕📢 NEW in Local Government Studies Journal, ‘Local passion and national apathy: investigating the phenomenon of selective voting behaviour’ from Jakub Lysek, Palacky University Olomouc, Czech Republic doi.org/10.1080/0300...

Partisan politics, economic hardship, and full-time day care for children in German cities The availability of full-time day care spots for children is important for integrating parents into the job market and for reducing the prominence of traditional role models within families. We arg...

📢🆕 In LGS Journal: In their article on day care & economic hardship, @marcdebus.bsky.social @keonhison.bsky.social & @sarahwagner.bsky.social find that the number of full-time day care spots for children per capita in cities that face economic hardship is significantly lower. doi.org/10.1080/0300...