ABSTRACT
This Chapter identifies the social inclusion, social exclusion, social citizenship and poverty as the most critical terms and it is so central to the development of welfare states and to social security in particular. The chapter begins with a brief overview of each of these terms. Social citizenship is one of the dominant ideas that has shaped and informed academic debate around the development of welfare states in the twentieth century and has shaped development of welfare programs and services. State provision of social security has been a major dimension of social citizenship because it enhances the inclusion and participation of beneficiaries by reducing the experience of poverty, thus increasing their sense of inclusion in the community. Abrahamson et al. argues that ideas of rights and duties, social inclusion and participation in the community and civic competency, which allow citizens to organize their social, economic and political institutions, are the main issues of contemporary social citizenship.
