Although it is well-known that administration of social security is a sensitive political issue, the great variety of this type of administration makes it difficult for researchers to seek meaningful patterns that can lead to useful knowledge. Fortunately, this book takes an important step in the approach to the problem. Its focus is on the role of non-public actors - primarily social partners (employers' organizations and trade unions), employers, and private bodies (e.g., insurance companies and funds) - in determining the content, decision-making, and supervision of social security...

The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 introduced the right to free movement for EU citizens. Despite this, in practice there are still substantial barriers to securing these freedoms. EU Citizenship and Social Rights discusses and analyses those legal and practical barriers preventing inter-European migrants from integrating into new host countries. Providing analysis of the development of EU social policy, this book highlights the disparate roles of the EU as a whole and of Member States in determining social rights and outcomes. In particular the issues of social assistance, housing benefits,...

This book addresses a topic that is currently high on the agenda in many fora: how to specify and secure a social minimum. The term 'social minimum' has different meanings, depending on the context. These contexts are examined in this book from different perspectives, including law, sociology, philosophy, politics and economics. In the first part, the social minimum is discussed from a conceptual and theoretical point of view. The second part shows the various ways in which the social minimum can be specified and measured. There is a need for new indicators that take into account, for...