Workforce diversity has always been a central research area in Public Administration. However, scholars have recently called to include contextual variables in the study of diversity effects in public sector organizations. This chapter contributes to this endeavor by discussing the promises and challenges of diversity research in international bureaucracies, the bureaucratic apparatus of intergovernmental organizations (IOs). At the theoretical level, I argue that we need to distinguish between two types of international bureaucracies according to the tasks they conduct, their relationship with clients, and the profile of their staff. The first type of international bureaucracies (Type I) includes administrations located in headquarters cities. The second type of international bureaucracies (Type II) comprises organizations located in the countries where IOs conduct and implement their activities and projects. From there, I develop three contextualized propositions for future research on diversity in international bureaucracies.
