Discovering methods to combat poverty and social exclusion has now become a major political challenge in Europe. Combating Poverty in Europe offers an original and timely analysis of how this challenge is met by actors at European, national and subnational levels. Building on a European study comparing Germany, Italy, Poland, Sweden and the United Kingdom, this book provides new insights into the processes and mechanisms that promote or hinder interaction between the increasingly multi-layered European system for responding to poverty and social exclusion in EU member states. The contributors present systematic and comparative analyses of social policy design, institutional frameworks and delivery practices from a multilevel governance perspective.Original and diverse, this book will appeal to researchers and scholars in comparative social policy, as well as policy officials in the EU, national government and anti-poverty NGOs.
Contents:PART I BACKGROUND1. Introduction: How to Achieve Active Inclusion in a Multi-layered Political Context? Rune Halvorsen and Bjorn Hvinden 2. Who is Poor? Linking Perceptions of Poor People and Political Responses to Poverty Bjorn Hvinden and Rune Halvorsen 3. Poverty and Social Exclusion as Challenge for Active Inclusion - The Spatial DimensionElisabeth Ugreninov and Dorethee Spanagel4. Poverty and Social Inclusion as Emerging Policy Arenas in the EUMaurizio Ferrera and Matteo JessoulaPART II A MULTI-LEVEL SYSTEM AS SEEN FROM THE NATIONAL ANGLE 5. Institutional Arrangements and Policy Coordination in National Anti-poverty Regimes Daniel Clegg6. Have Governments Designed Provisions for Lone Mothers, Long-term Unemployed and Working Poor to be Multi-dimensional and Integrated? Anna Angelin, Hayley Bennett and Marianna Zielenska7. Killing, Domesticating or Feeding the Snake: The Implementation of the Europe 2020 Anti-poverty Component at the National LevelMatteo JessoulaPART III A MULTI-LEVEL SYSTEM AS SEEN FROM SUBNATIONAL ANGLES8. Approaches, Actors and Models of Vertical Collaborative Governance Arrangements in Combating Poverty - Five European Cities Compared Max Koch and Alexandru Panican9. Mixing Multi-level and Network Governance: How do Local Actors Relate to the Policies, Steering Mechanisms and Resources of Higher-level Actors?Hakan Johansson and Franca Maino10. The Perspectives of Lone Mothers, Long-term Unemployed and Working Poor People on Provisions for Active Inclusion Wieslawa Kozek and Julia KubisaPART IV CONCLUSION11. An Emerging Multilevel System of Active Inclusion in Europe?Bjorn Hvinden and Rune Halvorsen Index
