What Have We Learned about the Performance of Council-Manager Government?

The 100th anniversary of the International City/County Management Association provides an excellent point to review and assess research on the performance of the council-manager form of government.  e development of the council-manager form arguably has been the most important innovation in American local government over the last century, yet its impact on the performance of municipal governments is not well understood.  is article reviews and assesses the empirical evidence for 10 propositions that council-manager governments perform better than mayor-council governments.  is evidence indicates that although progress has been made on demonstrating diff erences in representation and functionality, the proposition that council-manager governments are better managed than mayor-council governments has yet to be seriously engaged in this literature. Filling this critical gap requires progress in two areas: the development of theory to explain why council-manager governments are better-managed organizations and the production of evidence assessing the major propositions of this theory.