Meeting the critical challenge: re-tooling and re-founding defences of local democratic institutions

In this Editorial for the 50th Anniversary special issue of Local Government Studies, the journal's Editorial team set the context for this celebration. We draw on a bibliometric analysis of papers published in LGS over the last five decades to highlight how it has evolved from a largely practitioner- and UK-focused publication into an internationally-renowned academic journal that draws on increasingly sophisticated methods, theories and approaches. We then discuss the remaining articles in this (extra) special issue, which reflect on what the discipline of local government studies should focus on, outline various policy and managerial challenges that municipalities will need to address, and suggest that both practitioners and academics need to play a key role in furthering our knowledge of how local government operates in contemporary societies. We conclude by placing LGS at the vanguard of these debates on the past, present, and future of the discipline.