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.
"In this fascinating book, Johansson and Panican, together with ten prominent scholars of social policy, social work, sociology, urban studies and political science, provide a multi-disciplinary review and analysis of how, in the last two decades, welfare systems and welfare provision have become more and more local, as opposed to national - that is to say, local authorities are seen as responsible for the planning and provision of welfare services." (Avner De Shalit, Journal of Social Policy, Vol. 48 (1), January, 2019)