Austerity, Community Action, and the Future of Citizenship in Europe

Abstract

The politics of austerity has seen governments across Europe cut back on welfare provision. As the State retreats, this edited collection explores secular and faith-based grassroots social action in Germany and the United Kingdom that has evolved in response to changing economic policy and expanding needs, from basic items such as food to more complex means to move out of poverty. The book provides new ways of thinking about social and political belonging and about the relations between individual, collective, and State responsibility.