Non-for-Profits and EU Citizens’ Cross-Border Social Rights in Different Welfare States

Cecilia Bruzelius

doi:10.1017/s0047279419000680

Abstract

AbstractThis paper looks at rights in practice to understand how migrant EU citizens’ formal social rights translate into substantive ones. It highlights a factor thus far overlooked in the literature on welfare states and migrants’ social rights: namely, the actors involved in welfare delivery. The argument is based, first, on non-profit organisations’ (NPOs) function as ‘rights intermediaries’; and second, on the distinct make-up of the ‘welfare mix’ across countries, with which NPO’s role in the provision of services, and hence their capacities and autonomy, varies. Focusing on EU citizens’ cross-border social rights, and drawing on in-depth research in Germany and Sweden, the paper reveals how NPOs defend and facilitate access to rights in both countries. Yet NPOs’ extensive role in the German welfare sector generates greater capacities for NPOs to pursue inclusive objectives than what is available to their Swedish counterparts, which occupy a much more limited position as welfare providers. This, it is argued, can be important for understanding how boundaries of social citizenship are drawn in each country.

Highlights

Research has shown how different welfare states shape migrants’ social inclusion (Schmitt and Teney, ; Römer, ; Ruhs, ; Sainsbury, )
This paper asks ( ) in what ways non-profit organisations’ (NPOs) shape EU citizens’ substantive social rights ( ) how their ability to do so is conditioned by their position in the welfare state
The findings strongly indicate that the institutional structures in which NPOs operate condition their ability to respond to EU citizens’ needs

Summary

Introduction

Research has shown how different welfare states shape migrants’ social inclusion (Schmitt and Teney, ; Römer, ; Ruhs, ; Sainsbury, ). In contrast to e.g. undocumented migrants, EU citizens do have rights, creating real opportunities for NPOs to support this group of migrants Against this background, this paper asks ( ) in what ways NPOs shape EU citizens’ substantive social rights ( ) how their ability to do so is conditioned by their position in the welfare state. Drawing on research conducted in two EU member states where NPOs occupy fundamentally different positions in the respective welfare state – Germany and Sweden – it is argued that, whilst NPOs safeguard and facilitate access to social rights in both countries, their much more prominent role in the German welfare state provides German NPOs with greater capacities to pursue inclusive strategies relative to their Swedish counterparts. NPOs have long been key service providers they continue to enjoy greater autonomy to define their practices and resources to act beyond state mandates Such differences in welfare production may have implications for substantive social rights. Their relationship to the state and autonomy to support EU citizens could be inferred

Gothenburg Rescue

Germany Sweden