At a time when immigration and ethnic issues are hotly disputed across Europe, and challenged by minorities and xenophobes, this collection presents substantive cross-national analysis on the qualities of contentious politics. It offers conceptual approaches to migration and "ethnic relations" politics; it provides empirical analyses based on a method of systematic cross-national comparison; and, it addresses the emergence of the transnational level of political authority, its implications for national and sub-national politics, and how it is challenged by social movements.