Hubert Heinelt is Professor of Public Administration, Public Policy and Urban Research, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany.Björn Egner is Adjunct Professor at the Institute of Political Science, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Germany.Jakub Lysek is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, Palacký University Olomouc, Czechia.Tom Verhelst is Associate Professor of Local Politics at the Department of Political Science, Ghent University, Belgium