Part 1 History and background: racial equality and local politics, Wendy Ball and John Solomos; approaches to policy development in the field of equal opportunities, Ken Young. Part 2 Policy arenas: competing conceptions of "fairness" and the formulation and implementation of equal opportunity policies, David Mason; social services departments - the process and progress of change, Naomi Connelly; pragmatism or retreat? funding policy, local government and the marginalization of anti-racist education, Wendy Ball et al; racial equality, housing and the local state, John Solomos and Gurhapal Singh; reifying crime, legitimizing racism - policing, local authorities and left realism, Michael Keith and Karim Murji; resisting institutional change, Herman Ouseley. Part 3 Rethinking racial equality: race policies in local government - boundaries or thresholds?, Phil Nanton and Marian Fitzgerald; a dirty war - the new right and local authority anti-racism, Paul Gordon; the end of anti-racism, Paul Gilroy; new initiatives and the possibilities of reform, John Solomos and Wendy Ball.