Building Social Work Politics in Europe

The profession of social work and its representative bodies are in numerous ways involved in European politics. At the same time social work practice is affected by EU regulations, coordination, funding and jurisdiction in relevant policy fields. This book provides a systematic and practice-based reflection on the issues of how current political activities in the EU and beyond are social work-driven, affect social work, and give reason for an even deeper involvement of organized social work in European politics. Based on a structured dialogue among professors, students of social work, social workers, social NGOs, and policymakers, this text tackles European policy issues from various perspectives. Starting with theoretical reflections the authors discuss the political mandate of social work and how it applies to the EU polity sui generis as well as to the pan-European institutional settings of the Council of Europe.This is followed by analyses of different European social work policies (homeless policy, European Social Fund (ESF), basic income policy, prostitution policy) and their impact on social services and its clients.The next part shifts the focus to actors and institutions. The authors asked policy staff of social NGOs, human rights organizations, churches and social service providers to give their perspectives on how they lobby current EU policy initiatives and regulations regarding social problems. Finally, authors discuss the state of the art in selected European countries and the question of how social work politics in Europe could be strengthened. The volume concludes with concrete examples of participation and career opportunities in European social policy for students and graduates of social work. Building Social Work Politics in Europe: Research Approaches, Practices, and Perspectives is a useful and timely text for students of social work at all levels (BA, MA, third cycle), schools of social work, universities of applied sciences with social work study programs, practitioners and executive management of organized social work and social service provision internationally and in Europe in particular.