Introduction

The purpose of this volume is to analyse citizenship in relation to recent changes in European welfare states. Various developments, such as rising unemployment and poverty, welfare state retrenchment and reform, the transition from industrial to postindustrial economies, changing gender relations and family structures, and the increasing role of European legislation in national policy making, engender new questions about the meaning and status of citizenship in relation to social policy. Consequently, a renewed interest in the concept of citizenship has emerged in many countries. Debates have arisen about such themes as the relationship between rights and obligations, the relationship between workers’ rights and non-workers’ rights, exclusion and inclusion in the labour market and community life, the relationship between social and political citizenship, and the new roles of citizens as clients, consumers and participants concerning welfare provisions.