This book is about Greek and German cities in times of crisis. It is about how cities respond to fiscal and economic crises and whether they can make choices under fiscal stress and austerity policies imposed by higher levels of government. By using a complementary approach, the authors focus on fiscal policies in ten different cities and suggest a fusion of different approaches: actor-centred institutionalism, leadership approaches and interpretive approaches. They use qualitative document analysis and statistical data in order to present a comprehensive picture of the cities under review.