This essay offers a perspective on a new and reinvigorated research agenda for the study of U.S. local governments. It reports on the ideas and reflections of a set of local government scholars with different vantage points and varied substantive interests. Seven paramount themes or directions for a research agenda were identified, all of which contain numerous threads and thrusts: local government finance and economic development, local government management, intergovernmental relations, collaboration, public engagement, social equity, and institutional design. The essay offers some reasons for optimism about the future of U.S. local governments while also identifying cause for concern.
BearfieldDomonic A.HumpreyNicolePortilloShannon. 2020. The myth of representation: Identity and workplace expectations in public administration. Paper presented at Race, Gender and Social Equity in Governance Symposium, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, George Washington University, Virtual, September25–26.
3.
BentonJ. Edwin. 2020. Challenges to federalism and intergovernmental relations and takeaways amid the COVID-19 experience. American Review of Public Administration50 (6-7): 536–42.
4.
BentonJ. EdwinRisslerGrant E.WagnerSpencer. 2020. City and county governments in the time of COVID-19: The long and winding road. State and Local Government Review52 (1): 28–52.
5.
BushouseBrenda K.JacobsonWillow S.LambrightKristina T.LlorensJared J.MorseRicardo S.PoocharoenOraorn. 2011. Crossing the divide: Building bridges between public administration practitioners and scholars. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory21 (1): 99–112.
6.
CorasanitiNickRutenbergJim. 2020. Republicans pushed to restrict voting. Millions of Americans pushed back. New York Times, December5.A1.
7.
CrudeleLindsay. 2016. Telling the story of Boston through social media. In Social Media for Government, edited by ZavattaroStaci M.BryerThomas A., 79–86. New York: Routledge.
EinsteinKatherine LevineGlickDavid M.. 2018. Mayors, partisanship, and redistribution: Evidence directly from U.S. mayors. Urban Affairs Review54 (1): 74–106.
10.
EisingerPeter. 1998. City politics in an era of federal devolution. Urban Affairs Review33 (3): 308–25.
11.
HaleKathleenBrownMitchell. 2020. How we vote: Innovation in American elections. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
KropfMarthaPopeJoEllen V.ShepherdMary JoMohrZachary. 2020. Making every vote count: The important role of managerial capacity in achieving better election administration outcomes. Public Administration Review. https://doi.org/10.1111/puar.13216 (accessed December 11, 2020).
YatesDouglas. 1978. The ungovernable city: The politics of urban problems and policy making. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
22.
ZavattaroStaciBearfieldDomonic. 2020. Performing wokeness: The theater of management and implications for public administration. Paper presented at Race, Gender and Social Equity in Governance Symposium, Trachtenberg School of Public Policy & Public Administration, George Washington University, Virtual, September25–26.
