Premium
When Mayors Go Global: International Strategies, Urban Governance and Leadership
Author(s) -
Beal Vincent,
Pinson Gilles
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
international journal of urban and regional research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.456
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1468-2427
pISSN - 0309-1317
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2427.12018
Subject(s) - trips architecture , legitimacy , context (archaeology) , public administration , political science , politics , realm , publicity , corporate governance , sociology , law , management , geography , economics , archaeology , parallel computing , computer science
An enigma lies at the heart of this article. In D ecember 2006, the mayor of S aint‐ É tienne, M ichel T hiollière, was elected as the fifth best mayor in the world by the internet site City Mayors . Yet no publicity was made locally around this award. Taking this anecdote as a starting point, this article deals with the motivations that can lead a city mayor to become involved in urban international relationships' policy (city twinning, participation in cities networks, study trips, etc.). On the one hand these activities provide resources for building up political legitimacy and for electoral control, and on the other they provide resources for policy solutions to urban problems in the public realm. Nevertheless, in a context of transformation of the process of legitimization of urban elected officials, the second kind of resources seems to be the most sought after in mayoral involvement in international activities.