Der Band geht auf eine internationale Konferenz zurück, die im Februar 2000 unter Mitwirkung der New South Wales Local Government and Shires Association in Sydney stattgefunden hat. Im Mittelpunkt stand der Erfahrungsaustausch über Fragen der Modernisierung von Kommunalpolitik und -verwaltung. Inhalt: Gerry Stoker: New Labour and Local Governance in Britain (27-44); Neil Marshall / Kevin Sproats: Managing Democracy? Assessing some of the Outcomes of Australian Local Government Reform (45-61); Hellmut Wollmann: Recent Democratic and Administrative Reforms in Germany's Local Government: Persistence and Change (63-89); Jean Drage: New Zealand's Local Government: What of the Future? (93-110); Helge O. Larsen: Directly Elected Mayors - Democratic Renewal or Constitutional Confusion? (111-133); Rosemary Kiss: Democracy or community? Australian Local Government Electoral Reform (135-149); Janice Caulfield: Local Government Finance in OECD Countries (153-167); Akira Nakamura: A Paradigm Shift in Japan's Inter-Governmental Relationship: Reform of Government and Decentralization of Central Power (169-182); Andrew Sancton: Local Government in North America: Localism and Community Governance (185-201); Harald Baldersheim: Subsidiarity at Work: Modes of Multi-Level Governance in European Countries (203-211).