This book analyzes national anti-poverty measures at a local level via a set of unique and up-to-date empirical studies of minimum income support schemes and activation measures in five European cities. In examining this 'local welfare system' approach, it investigates the role that civil society organizations play, and the governance arrangements that prevail in contacts between public and civil society actors in local anti-poverty strategies. The current financial and economic crisis has caused increasing levels of poverty and unemployment, and put national minimum income protection schemes under severe strain. Combating Poverty in Local Welfare Systems therefore represents a timely and important intervention in the political and scientific debates as to whether more 'local welfare' is the solution to the challenges facing European welfare states.

Autorentext
Håkan Johansson is Professor in Social Work at Lund University, Sweden.Alexandru Panican is Associate Professor in Social Work at Lund University, Sweden.

Inhalt
1. A move towards the local? The relevance of a local welfare system approach; Håkan Johansson and Alexandru Panican 2. The local welfare system as a scale question; Simone Scarpa3. Conceptualising local welfare systems: exploring the role of actors and governance arrangements; Håkan Johansson and Max Koch4. Combating poverty through 'active inclusion'? The European and national contexts; Daniel Clegg  5. Strategies against poverty and social exclusion in a corporatistconservative local welfare system: The Dortmund consensus; Dorothee Spannagel 6. Anti-poverty activities in a liberal welfare model: Local levers and multi-level tensions in Glasgow, UK; Hayley Bennett7. Strategies against poverty in a Social democratic local welfare system: still the responsibility of public actors?; Alexandru Panican and Håkan Johansson 8. Active inclusion in a Southern European local welfare system: Combining fragmentation and publicprivate partnership in Turin; Franca Maino9. Poland' active inclusion model - still in transition? The case of public agencies' tensions and emerging role of CSOs in Radom; Julia Kubisa and Justyna Zieliska10. Worlds of active inclusion at the local level: a comparative analysis; Alexandru Panican and Anna Angelin11. Concluding remarks: Exploring the consequences of scale and place for local active inclusion strategies; 

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