Multilevel Social Citizenship: Free Movement and Minimum Social Protection

Access to minimum social rights for EU citizens who move across member state borders is highly contested in the EU. At the same time, these and other limits to EU social citizenship are often identified in relation to national citizenship. However, the EU and EU citizenship is in many ways comparable to federations and other multi-tiered jurisdictions, which is often overlooked.

By comparing how internal migrants gain-or are denied-access to basic social benefits in multi-level political systems, Multilevel Social Citizenship: Free Movement and Minimum Social Protection reveals the political forces that shape who qualifies for help and why. It offers an account of the determinants of social citizenship in federal contexts where freedom of movement of persons is combined with sub-federal welfare provision. We understand social citizenship as the entitlement and access to minimum social benefits and therefore examine the political processes behind the extension and contraction of social assistance rights for internally migrating citizens across time and space, comparing 19th and early 20th century imperial Germany, 20th century United States of America, and the EU, with a focus on Germany.

Multilevel Social Citizenship stands out for its use of detailed case studies, each undertaken by experts in their respective fields, and its historical and international comparative analyses. Archival data, policy documents, statistical data, and interviews allow for an original analysis of a broad range of issues from multiple perspectives. This solid empirical foundation permits for an in-depth analysis of a broad range of topics, from political debates at all levels of multi-tiered federal systems to the implementation of the resulting legislation on the ground.