1st Edition

Citizenship in Nordic Welfare States Dynamics of Choice, Duties and Participation In a Changing Europe

Edited By Bjørn Hvinden, Håkan Johansson Copyright 2007
    264 Pages
    by Routledge

    262 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book offers an innovative analysis of the ways in which the relationship between citizens and welfare states - social citizenship - becomes more dynamic and multifaceted as a result of Europeanization and individualization.

    Written by interdisciplinary contributors from politics, sociology, law and philosophy, it examines the transformation of social citizenship through a series of illuminating case studies, comparing Nordic countries and other European nations.

    Dealing with the following areas of national and European welfare policy, legislation and practice:

    • activation – reforms linking income maintenance and employment promotion
    • scope for participation of marginal groups in deliberation and decision-making
    • impact of human rights legislation for welfare and legal protection against discrimination and social barriers to equal market participation
    • coordination of social security systems to facilitate cross-border mobility in Europe
    • pension reform – efforts to make pension systems sustainable.

    Citizenship in Nordic Welfare States will be of interest to students and researchers of social policy, comparative welfare, social law, political science, sociology and European studies.

    PART I: Citizenship in contemporary welfare states – issues and perspectives
    1 Opening citizenship: Why do we need a new understanding of social citizenship?
    HÅKAN JOHANSSON AND BJØRN HVINDEN
    2 From active states to active Citizenship? The impact of economic openness and transnational governance
    STEFANÍA ÓSKARSDÓTTIR
    3 What do we mean by active citizenship?
    HÅKAN JOHANSSON and BJØRN HVINDEN

    PART II: Towards a new balance of rights and duties – activation reform
    4 Nordic activation reforms in a European context: A distinct universalistic model?
    HÅKAN JOHANSSON AND BJØRN HVINDEN
    5 Individualizing welfare provision: The integrated approach of the Finnish activation reform
    ELSA KESKITALO
    6 The challenges of decentralized delivery of services: the scope for active citizenship in Swedish and Norwegian activation policies
    RUNE HALVORSEN, JON ARVE NERVIK, TAPIO SALONEN, KATARINA THORÉN AND RICKARD ULMESTIG

    PART III: The increased scope for participation and inclusion of marginal groups
    7 Claiming participation rights: Social mobilization and citizenship in Denmark and Norway
    JØRGEN ANKER AND RUNE HALVORSEN
    8 Capabilities and participation: Russian women immigrants in North Norway.
    ANN THERESE LOTHERINGTON AND KJERSTI FJØRTOFT
    9 Europeanization ‘from below’: The OMC process on social inclusion in the Swedish welfare state.
    HÅKAN JOHANSSON

    PART IV: Marketisation of citizenship? Choice, anti-discrimination and human rights
    10 Contrasting legal concepts of active citizenship: Europe and the Nordic countries
    KIRSTEN KETSCHER
    11: Membership and migration: Market citizenship or European citizenship?
    ØYVIND STOKKE
    12 Double discrimination: Human rights and immigrant women in Denmark within the context of the Nordic legal tradition
    STINE JØRGENSEN
    13 From disabling barriers to participation: The opportunities created by the EU equality strategy
    RICHARD WHITTLE and RUNE HALVORSEN
    14 Enlarging freedom of choice: Pension reforms in the Nordic countries and Germany
    KARL HINRICHS
    15 Conclusions: Remaking social citizenship in Nordic welfare states
    BJØRN HVINDEN and HÅKAN JOHANSSON

    References
    Index

    Biography

    Bjørn Hvinden is Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Political Science at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.

    Håkan Johansson is Researcher and Lecturer in Social Work at the School of Health Sciences and Social Work, Växjö University, Sweden.