This book challenges the prevailing view that local authorities are irrelevant in immigration policy-making. Presenting an in-depth ethnographic study of the recent implementation of local 'diversity policies' in the Netherlands, Belgium and United Kingdom, it identifies a new politics of difference, characterized by a 'paradigmatic pragmatism'. Building on extensive fieldwork in Amsterdam, Antwerp and Leeds, the author shows that, rather than simply replacing an earlier politics of difference, local diversity policies combine ideals of multiculturalism, assimilation and diversity. She links these findings to the ongoing modernization and diversification of municipal authorities, and the impact of this transformation on the profile of the bureaucrats and their implementation of diversity policies. This thought-provoking work will appeal to students, researchers and practitioners engaged in the fields of immigration, diversity and multiculturalism.