This slide deck uses a variety of data from primary sources to illustrate the external forces affecting local governments. It formed the basis of presentations by ICMA chief operating officer Ron Carlee to the local government professional associations in Georgia, New York, and Texas in the first half of 2012. This discussion of drivers of local government is a supplement to Carlee’s article in the ICMA Municipal Year Book 2012, “The Politics of Apolitical Leadership: Professional Management in a Digital and Divided Society.”

Local government drivers are organized in four sections:

1. Economy
2. Social/Political
3. Environment
4. Technology

View the presentation here.