John Loughlin is a Fellow of St. Edmund's College and Affiliate Lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Studies at Cambridge University. He also holds Visiting positions at Oxford, Cambridge, Umea University, and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques Aix-en-Provence, as well as numerous other appointments. He is author and editor of over twenty books and numerous articles and book chapters on European territorial governance, as well as an expert of the Council of Europe's Committee of Independent Experts on Regional and Local Democracy.

Frank Hendriks is Professor of Comparative Governance at Tilburg University in the Netherlands. He deals with cross-border comparison of policies and governance systems, including the comparative analysis of democratic and decisionmaking models at the national and the subnational level. He has conducted extensive research, partly commissioned by public bodies, on governance and democracy at the local, regional, national and European level. Hendriks has published in international journals such as Public Administration; Democratization; Local Government Studies; Administrative Theory and Praxis; Journal of Crises and Contingencies, International Review of Administrative Sciences, and more.

Anders Lidstrom is Professor of Politics at the University of Umeå in Sweden. His reseach focuses on local politics and government, comparative politics, and education policy. Current research includes comparative studies of local government systems, and studies of democracy and political participation in city-regions.

Harald Baldersheim, Professor of Political Science, University of Oslo
Arthur Benz, Professor of Political Sciencem Fern Universitaet
Marco Brunazzo, Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Trento
Sona Capkova, Assistant Professor of Regional Development and Public Administration, Matej Bel University
Alistair Cole, Professor of European Politics,Cardiff University
Cesar Colino, Associate Professor of Political Science and Public Administration, Spanish National Distance-Learning University (UNED)
Colin Copus, Professor of Local Politics and Director of the Local Governance Research Unit, De Montfort University
Ana Maria Dobre, Associated Researcher, Faculty of Social Sciences and the Institute for International and European Policy, University of Leuven
Eloisa Del Pino, Research Fellow, Institute of Public Goods and Policies (IPP), Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Filip De Rynck, Professor of Public Administration, University College Ghent
Patrick Dumont, Researcher in Political Science, University of Luxembourg
Franz Fallend, Senior Scientist, Department of Political Science and Sociology, University of Salzburg
Henry Frendo, Professor of History and Director of the Institute of Maltese Studies, University of Malta
Panagiotis Getimis, Professor for Urban and Regional Planning and Policies, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences
Jens Blom-Hansen, Professor at the Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus
Anne Heeager, Researcher at the Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus
Nikos Hlepas, Associate Professor of Regional and Local Government, National and Capodistrian University of Athens
Michal Illner, Senior Scientist in the Institute of Sociology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Peter John, Hallsworth Chair of Governance, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester
Laszlo Kakai, Associate Professor of Political Studies, University of Pecs
Kersten Kattai, Lecturer at the Institute of Political Science and Governance, Tallinn University
Raphael Kies, Researcher in Political Science, University of Luxembourg
Andreas Ladner, Professor of Political Science, Autonomous University Institute IDHEAP
Jose M. Magone, Professor of Regional and Global Governance, Berlin School of Economics and Law
Saulius Nefas
Pavlina Nikolova, International Relations Officer, European Commission
Simona Piattoni, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Trento
Jean-Benoit Pilet, Assistant Professor in Political Science, Universite´ Libre de Bruxelles
Philippe Poirier, Professor of Political Science, University of Luxembourg; Associate Professor, College des Bernardins and Universite´de Paris IV Sorbonne (Celsa)
Lawrence E. Rose, Professor of Political Science, University of Oslo
Linze Schaap, Associate Professor of Public Administration, Tilburg School of Politics and Public Administration, Tilburg University
Stanka Setnikar-Cankar, Professor of Economics of the Public Sector, University of Ljubljana
Stefan Sjoblom
Gabor Soos, Research Director, Tocqueville Research Center Budapest
Georg Sootla, Professor of Public Policy, Tallinn University
Kristof Steyvers, Lecturer at the Centre for Local Politics, Ghent University
Pawel Swianiewicz, Professor of Local Development and Policy, University of Warsaw
Jolanta Vaiciuniene
Andrekos Varnava, Lecturer in Modern History, Flinders University
Inga Vilka, Assistant Professor in the Public Administration Department, University of Latvia
Ellen Wayenberg, Assistant Professor in Policy Analysis, University College Ghent and Ghent University
Christalla Yakinthou, Country Manager of the International Center for Transitional Justice's Cyprus Program; Research Fellow, University of Western Australia
Christina Zimmer, Research Assistant, Department of Political Science, Fern Universitaet in Hagen

"A high-quality team of experts on the different member-countries have produced thorough, clear and well-documented surveys of the state of territorial politics within every state of the Union, and the collection is held together by strong editorial guidance and a lucid and incisive theoretical overview. Accessible to both specialists and readers with more general interests, this work is an essential reference for anyone interested in the changing patterns of the contemporary state."--David Hanley, Professor Emeritus of European Studies, Cardiff University, and Visiting Professor, Centre for European and International Studies, University of Portsmouth

"The impressive Handbook on local democracy in Europe is an invaluable source of precise data about 29 countries, but also makes strong claims about transnational trends and typologies. . . it also stresses the "hybrid" nature of most states now when seen from below. It makes a powerful case for understanding democracy and its transformation beyond the nation state by precisely reviewing the implementation of direct democracy instruments and forms of political participation. Territory strongly matters if we are to understand European democracies, the Handbook eloquently makes the point."--Patrick Le Galès, Research Professor of Politics and Sociology, Sciences Po/CNRS, Centre détudes européennes