Mayors and the Challenge of Urban Leadership. By Richard M. Flanagan. Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 2004. 230p. $34.50.

At its core, regime theory, which is now the dominant paradigm in urban politics, looks at the changing nature of governing coalitions in urban America. Richard Flanagan modifies regime theory by applying Karen Orren and Stephen Skowronek's theory of executive power, which was originally developed to explain presidential politics, to mayors. In particular, Flanagan looks at how temporal factors influence mayoral leadership during regime formation, consolidation, and decay.