Introduction
Hans-Uwe Otto, Bielefeld University
The assumption that welfare arrangements in Western societies develop towards Welfare Service States is increasingly discussed[1]. The notion of Welfare Service States (WSS) is based on the observation of personalized social services stepping out of their residual role and fulfil central bridging functions of welfare production. This has enormous structural, organizational and personal consequences and leads to a fundamental restructuring of the welfare policy program. Deep-routed changes in welfare state action can be seen, for example, in an identifiable move towards socially-investive measures in the context of demographic, social, and economic developments, which has generated new social needs and risks. Against this background, the alterations to the significant relationship between citizens and state become apparent. The approach of social citizenship in social science is very apt for describing these new insights in greater detail and consistently pointing out new connections. Developments towards a WSS do not only promise more appropriate and sustainable solutions but do also amplify shifting interpretations of social problems and their political treatment. The outlined analyses have led to even more controversial and fundamental debates concerning changes in the very concept of what social citizenship is about. Governance strategies may imply notions of citizenship as well as react to demands associated with altered conceptions of citizenship. It has, therefore, become very clear that the meaning and substance of citizenship is a cornerstone of an incipient new welfare architecture. However, the question of which types of citizenship may effectively secure equity, autonomy and social entitlements of citizens has yet to be answered: What constitutes republican memberships and who counts as a member (migrants, children, disabled people) is contested by and renegotiated within societal changes and rationalities of public policies as well as mundane modes and practices of welfare, provided by social services. A service-based welfare architecture – if it is attempting to enable democratic participation and to enhance capabilities of citizens to realize states and actions they have reason to value – has to find answers concerning inevitable challenges to citizenship, associated with paternalism, the fuzziness of eligibility criteria and discretionary powers of service providers. The following contributions take on essential questions and problems and combine them with further insights. This will primarily involve analyses of the welfare conditions of democratic citizenship, in particular tackling the following questions:
· How do economic, cultural, socio-political and civic changes – which may be generic as well as contradicting or reinforcing one another – impact social relations between citizens and between citizens and the state? What demands are made by citizens and what can the state expect from citizens? How can this be negotiated and coordinated?
· How do strategies of welfare governance reframe and re-constitute citizenship? What are the potentials and pitfalls of the new Welfare edifice? What are the promises of the welfare strategies for citizens and how are they can keep their promise? How are citizens addressed and who is addressed as a citizen?
The following articles were part of the international symposium Renegotiating Social Citizenship - Democracy in Welfare Service States which took place in Hannover from the 12.06.2019 - 14.06.2019 and was funded by the VW Foundation. The first two introductory contributions are outlining a program of underlying challenges and problems (Arne Wohlfarth) of Welfare Service States, as well as extensively gathering insights from existing research and literature (René Lehwess-Litzmann) regarding a service-based welfare architecture. The following contributions in the chapter Investing and Measuring – Policies in Welfare Service States by Lavinia Bifulco, Monika Burmerster and Norbert Wohlfahrt, Florence Jany-Catrice as well as Karolina Sztandar-Sztanderska and Marianna Zieleńska deal with aspects of governance and measurement in and of social services under the social investment paradigm. The role of frontline-workers and their working methods and conditions are examined in the chapter Welfare Service States at the Frontline by Stephan Dahmen, Urban Nothdurfter, Hannah Kristin Dehm, Johanna Pangritz and Wilhelm Berghan, Tony Evans, as well as Helena Blomberg and Christian Kroll. The final chapter Renegotiating Social Citizenship is introduced by Walter Lorenz dinner speech held on the second day of the symposium on questions of the ‘Right to belong‘. Roland Atzmüller and Fabienne Décieux, Fabian Kessl, as well as Oliver Flügel-Martinsen shine a light the democratic challenges and tasks ahead. The issue is closed by concluding remarks from Holger Ziegler and Jean Michel Bonvin on Welfare Service States and further research, regarding Social Services, Democracy and the Capability Approach.
Author´s Address:
Hans-Uwe Otto, Prof. Dr.Dr. h.c. mult.
Bielefeld University, Germany
Faculty of Educational Science; Bielefeld Center for Education and Capability
Research
huotto@uni-bielefeld.de
[1] See for example the Special Issue Ambivalences of the Rising Welfare Service State – Hopes and Hazard of Modern Welfare Architecture, Social Work & Society, 16(2), 2018.