Regions, multi-level citizens and welfare development

Abstract

This paper elaborates on the idea of multi-level citizenship as a ‘civility compound’ of collective attachments which favours democratic subsidiarization and the implementation of social policies. It focuses also on the aspirations of regions to carry out welfare expansion based upon arguments of optimality, accountability, legitimacy, partnership and recalibration. After a brief conceptual review, this paper regards the emergence of ‘new social risks’ (NSR) as providing to sub-state political communities with opportunities for welfare development, concerning primarily activation, social assistance, care services and policy closure of ‘safety nets’. Final remarks put forward the idea that the advancement of social citizenship in Europe may be best achieved if the virtuous circle of emulation is encouraged among and within member states (policy learning, ‘soft’ regulation, or ‘best practices’).