Mayors and the Challenge of Urban Leadership. By Richard M.
Flanagan. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2004. 230p. $34.50.
At its core, regime theory, which is now the dominant paradigm in
urban politics, looks at the changing nature of governing coalitions in
urban America. Richard Flanagan modifies regime theory by applying Karen
Orren and Stephen Skowronek's theory of executive power, which was
originally developed to explain presidential politics, to mayors. In
particular, Flanagan looks at how temporal factors influence mayoral
leadership during regime formation, consolidation, and decay.