Germany: On the Social Policy Centrality of the Free Welfare Associations

Zimmer, Anja; Appel, Alan; Dittrich, C; Lange, Christoph; Sitterman, B; Stallman, F; Kendall, Jeremy

doi:10.4337/9781849803403.00012

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The local organisations regulate the provision of these services on their own. Following the German tradition of public-private partnerships in the provision of welfare, social services are mostly carried out by FWAs whose services are paid from the federal purse (Zimmer et al, 2009). The majority of the Jobcentre's front-line staff are administrative clerks and therefore often not qualified to identify individual needs for social services such as drug counselling.…”

Section: Access To Quality Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active inclusion as an organisational challenge: integrated anti-poverty policies in three European countries

Heidenreich

Petzold

Natili

et al. 2014

J. int. comp. soc. policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Active inclusion aims at the reduction of poverty by strengthening the agency of excluded persons by the provision of a minimum income, activation and social services. The contribution to poverty alleviation is determined by expenditure levels and the organisation of these three policy fields. This can be shown by three examples: The comprehensive Swedish regime is characterised by high expenditures; the redistributive German regime is characterised by lower service levels and in Italy, all three dimensions are least developed. In addition, the organisation of services differs: Decentralised and discretionary system for the provision of services in Sweden, "creaming and parking" effects in Germany and fragmented providers in Italy. As a result of different expenditure levels and organisational patterns, the selectivity of active inclusion strategies is low in Sweden, medium in Germany and high in Italy. Both the financial and organisational dimensions of active inclusion therefore are decisive for poverty alleviation.

show abstract

Section: Access To Quality Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Active inclusion as an organisational challenge: integrated anti-poverty policies in three European countries

Heidenreich

Petzold

Natili

et al. 2014

J. int. comp. soc. policy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In fact, it is highly probable that rates of transnational solidarity work will differ, particularly with regard to countries, given the apparent differences between organisational fields and institutional contexts. Germany, for instance, is marked by a well-established field of civil society organisations (Simonson et al 2016), a high level of institutionalisation within the public and political domains (Anheier and Salamon 1999;Zimmer et al 2009), and a high level of insertion into a Europeanised field of civil society activism (Beyers and Kerremans 2007). Greece, contrastingly, is a country with a younger and less institutionalised arena of civil society groups and initiatives (Kousis 1999;Lyrintzis 2002;Clarke et al 2016) that has grown since the consolidation of its democracy in the seventies, but also after the nineties, due in part to EU funds such as those in the environmental field (Alexandropoulos 2010;Kousis 1999;Eder and Kousis 2001).…”

Section: Theorising About Transnational Solidarity Organisations: Resmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On first sight, we might expect that differences between civic groups from the two countries and three fields of operation will predominate. Germany and Greece, for instance, represent two countries with structurally diverse civil societies (Kousis 1999;Lyrintzis 2002;Anheier and Salamon 1999;Zimmer et al 2009). However, the crises affecting the EU, and Greece in particular, have not only led to a considerable growth in Greek organised civil society (Sotiropoulos and Bourikos 2014;Kousis et al 2016;Simiti 2017), but have also led organisations in both countries to engage more overtly in transnational activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Europäische Solidarität in Zeiten der Krise: ein Vergleich der transnationalen Aktivitäten zivilgesellschaftlicher Organisationen in Deutschland und Griechenland

Lahusen

Kousis

Zschache

et al. 2018

Österreich Z Soziol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Civil society organisations have been engaged in solidarity practices in various issue areas, both within their countries and beyond. This paper is interested in analysing whether and to what extent civic initiatives and organisations are involved in transnational solidarity activities within Europe. Moreover, it wishes to identify those factors that seem to promote or inhibit the scope of transnational European activities. The paper compares the situation in two countries (Greece and Germany) on the basis of data on transnationally-oriented civic groups and organisations committed to organising solidarity activities in three fields of work (disabilities, unemployment and immigration of refugees). The analyses show that most solidarity organisations remain active primarily at the local and/or national level/s, and that only a minority of solidarity organisations are engaged in cross-national activities. European activities are associated with organisations maintaining a web of transnational partners and a more politicised mission. Moreover, formalisation and professionalisation seem to be conducive to transnational activism, as much as to global activism. These findings show that cross-national activism can develop at the grassroots level on the basis of a transnational organisational field that is not nec-C. Lahusen () •

show abstract

“…Albeit in close cooperation with the local administration, local parliaments guarantee the participation of citizens in local politics (Bogumil and Holtkamp 2006). Furthermore, Germany is particularly noteworthy for neo-corporatist governance arrangements (Schmitter 1974), in which civil society organizations and associations ( Verbände) traditionally play a key role in the policy process, bridging the different territorial levels (local, subnational and federal) of the country (Zimmer et al 2009). Legitimated by the principle of subsidiary neo-corporatism at the local level translates into a situation in which civil society organizations or nonprofit organizations (NPOs) are the prime providers of social services (Dahme and Wohlfahrt 2011;Evers et al 2011a).…”

Section: Cooperative Federalism Self-government and Subsidiaritymentioning

confidence: 99%