Citizenship in Europe and the Logic of Two-Level Political Contracts

Abstract

How are we to understand the state of citizenship in Europe twenty years after the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty? When answering this question, I focus particularly onsocial citizenship. Social citizenship may be understood as a form of political relationship among citizens extending to each collective protection against the financial risks associated with the life cycle, including dependency when young, ill heath, accidents, and the vulnerabilities of old age. Collective protection against these financial risks takes the form of social rights within the welfare state, including rights to income protection, access to health care, and the provision of education. Within the most economically developed European states, securing these rights has since 1945 been seen as central to the democratic legitimacy of these states, as well as an aspirational standard for democratizing societies seeking to achieve “the concrete substance civilised life” and the associated “general reduction of risk and insecurity”1 at all levels that the welfare state provides.