ABSTRACT
This article examines how three major French cities designed their immigrant incorporation policies in the early twenty-first century. While political and administrative structures are similar in these cities, the favoured approaches – integration, equality, diversity – and the importance assigned to the issue of migration differed. Four factors explain the local shape of immigrant incorporation policies: the relationship with national authorities, the mobilization of European opportunities, the capacities of civil society, and the career paths of policy officers. This qualitative research provides insights into the |“local turn” of migration policy in practice. It further illustrates how French cities may overcome a national model, although their fight against ethno-racial inequalities remains weak and inconsequent.
