English mayors : what are they for? / John Garrard -- The Scottish provost since 1800 : tradition, continuity and change in the leadership of 'local self-government' / Irene Maver -- Symbolism or substance? : the mayoralty in Northern Ireland / Colin Knox -- The mayoralty in the Republic of Ireland / Muiris MacCarthaigh and Mark Callanan -- The end of French mayors? / Olivier Borraz and Emmanuel Négrier -- The impact of the German occupation (1940-1944) on the Belgian and Dutch mayoralty / Nico Wouters -- Servants of the state, agents of the party, representatives of the people : the German mayoralty in the twentieth century / Anthony McElligott -- The mayoralty in Italy / James L. Newell -- From party and state domination to Putin's 'power vertical' : the subjugation of mayors in communist and post-communist Russia / Cameron Ross -- The mayor in American local government / Benjamin A. Lloyd, Donald F. Norris and Thomas J. Vicino -- Index