Urban multiculturalism beyond the "backlash": New discourses and different practices in immigrant policies across European cities

All across European receiving societies, the mainstream political discourse is displaying increasing disaffection with multiculturalism. It is primarily at the level of local policies, though, that the social inclusion of immigrants and the governance of ethno-cultural diversity are negotiated. Building on a comparative study of the urban ‘adaptations’ of multiculturalism in eight European cities, this article addresses three questions: (1) the changing relations between national and (relatively autonomous) local immigrant policies; (2) the ways in which such policies are locally reframed and reshaped along the continuum between multiculturalism and assimilation; (3) the involvement of civil society organizations in urban governance processes. Altogether, local policies seem to have been less affected by the backlash against multiculturalism than a common sense understanding would entail. Yet, they are increasingly constrained by anti-immigrant positions and budgetary restrictions, as well by the search for new political idioms vis-à-vis the de-legitimization of the multiculturalist lexicon and agenda.