Social Citizenship in Federations

Abstract This chapter develops a conceptual foundation for the book, introducing the idea of social citizenship and offering a normative lens through which to assess it. Specifically, we focus on what we call fundamental social citizenship. This idea corresponds to a lowest social common denominator for all those who are members of a specific political community—whether they are mobile or not—, according to which a guaranteed social minimum provides a foundation for social citizenship. Drawing on literature from comparative federalism, welfare state research, and migration studies, the chapter then draws out an analytical framework to guide the empirical analyses to come. It discusses the characteristics of federations and citizenship within them, and how these contexts may complicate or enable the realization of fundamental social citizenship. Central to this is the tension between the universality of social rights and the diversity inherent in federal political systems, particularly when internal mobility is considered.