This book brings together leading scholars and practitioners from around the globe to examine the current roles of and future trends in local government structures and mechanisms in 16 different federal and federal-type countries. In doing so, this volume explores pressing topics such as the institutions of local government, constitutional recognition, financial management, intergovernmental relations, political culture, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the role of local government in federal systems. Contributors to this volume provide a timely and comprehensive account of the integral role local governments play in federal countries and offer fascinating perspectives on how these roles may change as individual federal systems evolve. These individual analyses are contextualized in a comparative perspective in order to gain a holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities of various local government dynamics in different regions around the world.

Nico Steytler is Professor of Public Law and the South African Research Chair in Multilevel Government, Law and Development at the Dullah Omar Institute of Constitutional Law, Governance and Human Rights of the University of the Western Cape, South Africa.

1. Introduction to Local Government - Nico Steytler

2. Argentina - Penelope Vaca Avila

3. Australia - Graham Sansom and Su Fei Tan

4. Austria - Karl Kössler

5. Brazil - Sol Garson and Braule Pinto

6. Canada - Enid Slack and Zachary Taylor

7. Germany- Henrik Scheller

8. India - Niranjan Sahoo

9. Mexico - Laura Alejandra Reyes Ruiz Del Cueto and Monica Unda-Gutierrez

10. Nigeria - Rotimi Suberu

11. South Africa - Jaap de Visser

12. Spain - Francisco Velasco Caballero

13. Switzerland - Andreas Ladner

14. USA - Meryl Chertoff

15. Nepal - Khim Lal Devkota and Gopi Krishna Khanal

16. Ethiopia - Zemelak Ayele