What make a mayor strong may be a matter of many facets. It is also a question of strong in what sense, and in relation to what and whom. At a systemic level, it is not least also a question of the relative strength of local government itself. A French mayor may enjoy a very strong position in his or her commune. an assessment would, however, also have to account for the fact that French communes on average are among the smallest in Europe, and play a less central role in the implementation of national welfare state policies than do e.g. their Nordic counterparts. This is an aspect of what Dahl and Tufted in their discussion of size and democracy have called system capacity