The ‘council manager’ and ‘strong mayor’ forms of government in the USA

Abstract

In the debate over the future structure of local government in Britain, reference is quite often made to the example of the United States. It appears, however, that British impressions of the American scene are inclined to be distorted or misunderstood (Henschel, 1990), and certainly there is a dearth of accessible information in this country. On the initiative of the Society of Local Authority Chief Executives (SOLACE) and with sponsorship from Save & Prosper Group, the author made a study‐tour of American local government in mid 1991. This article describes two case‐studies of local authorities, in Phoenix (Arizona) and Seattle (Washington), and the impact of structure on the quality of management.