Introduction Xavier Bertrana, Björn Egner and Hubert Heinelt Part 1. 2 County councils in a multi-level position: Formal powers and assumed autonomy Anders Lidström and Katarina Roos 3 Perceptions of New Public Management Reforms Hubert Heinelt and Max-Christopher Krapp 4 County councillors: between revenue shortfalls and growing responsibilities Dubravka Jurlina Alibegović and Sunčana Slijepčević Part II. 5 The political representation focuses of second tier councillors in Europe Cristina Stănuș 6 Representational styles among county and municipal councillors Jacob Aars, Bjarte Folkestad and Lawrence E. Rose 7 Patterns of gender representation in councils at the second tier of local government: Assessing the gender gap in a unexplored institutional setting Carmen Navarro and Lluís Medir 8 Notions of democracy of councillors at the municipal and second tier of local government – and their role perception and behaviour Hubert Heinelt Part III. 9 The importance of political parties in county government Colin Copus, David Sweeting and Thom Oliver 10 Parties and ideology: How parties shape their manifestos to obtain votes Björn Egner 11 Actors’ influence and horizontal power relations at the second tier of local government Panagiotis Getimis and Nikos Hlepas Part IV. 12 The political career of county councillors in Europe: Examining the internal logic of professionalization and comparative country patterns Xavier Bertrana, Jaume Magre, Joan Manel Sánchez, Kristof Steyvers, Tony Valcke and Tom Verhelst 13 Political professionalization of county councillors in Europe Dan Ryšavý and Daniel Čermák 14 Family, ambition, local rootedness and party: A study of the activation and apprenticeships of the county councillor in Europe Eric Kerrouche and Corentin Poyet