I.- New Labour and Local Governance in Britain.- Managing Democracy? Assessing Some of the Outcomes of Australian Local Government Reform.- Local Government Reforms in Germany: A Trajectory of Change and Persistence.- II.- New Zealand’s Local Government: What of the Future?.- Directly Elected Mayors: Democratic Renewal or Constitutional Confusion?.- Democracy or Community? Australian Local Government Electoral Reform.- III.- Local Government Finance in OECD Countries.- A Paradigm Shift in Japan’s Intergovernmental Relations: Reform of Government and Decentralization of Central Power.- IV.- Local Government in North America: Localism and Community Governance.- Subsidiarity at Work: Modes of Multi-Level Governance in European Countries.- Contributors.