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Citizenship and the economic crisis in Europe: an introduction

Citizenship and the economic crisis in Europe: an introduction
Citizenship and the economic crisis in Europe: an introduction
This article analyses the changing nature of Active and Participatory Citizenship in Europe during the period of the financial crisis from 2008–2015 and introduces the special issue which has a focus on this topic. This article and the accompanying special issue shed light on the current critical situation in Europe, how we got here and provides critical insights on where we may be headed. The findings of the research show that during the period of the economic crisis the European Union (EU) was seen to take a leadership role championing austerity and neoliberal economic policies whilst many of its citizens suffered and began to lose trust in the EU, its institutions and leaders. National politicians often successfully shifted blame to the EU for domestic policies that made citizens and public services suffer in the name of austerity for recovery. At the same time, Active and Participatory Citizenship policies received major cuts to funding, as part of the austerity drive, and were no longer considered a policy priority at both the European and the national level as concerns about mounting unemployment and a skills crisis took over. In addition, there was a general policy shift from cosmopolitan European Citizenship to a more nationalistic and, reactive citizenship driven by responses to pressing social issues such as extremism, radicalisation, migration and violence. The article concludes that in order to maintain the European project the Active and Participatory agenda needs to urgently be restored to give people a sense of belonging and ownership of Europe.
1751-1917
249-265
Hoskins, Bryony
ad912282-26d8-4ad0-bd61-f306bee35e53
Kerr, David
28d3854d-6cb6-48ff-b60d-3ab1109cb154
Liu, Liyuan
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Hoskins, Bryony
ad912282-26d8-4ad0-bd61-f306bee35e53
Kerr, David
28d3854d-6cb6-48ff-b60d-3ab1109cb154
Liu, Liyuan
6e3c9f4b-c4b9-4ee4-85b5-64a2a88cc5a2

Hoskins, Bryony, Kerr, David and Liu, Liyuan (2016) Citizenship and the economic crisis in Europe: an introduction. Citizenship Teaching & Learning, 11 (3), 249-265. (doi:10.1386/ctl.11.3.249_1).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This article analyses the changing nature of Active and Participatory Citizenship in Europe during the period of the financial crisis from 2008–2015 and introduces the special issue which has a focus on this topic. This article and the accompanying special issue shed light on the current critical situation in Europe, how we got here and provides critical insights on where we may be headed. The findings of the research show that during the period of the economic crisis the European Union (EU) was seen to take a leadership role championing austerity and neoliberal economic policies whilst many of its citizens suffered and began to lose trust in the EU, its institutions and leaders. National politicians often successfully shifted blame to the EU for domestic policies that made citizens and public services suffer in the name of austerity for recovery. At the same time, Active and Participatory Citizenship policies received major cuts to funding, as part of the austerity drive, and were no longer considered a policy priority at both the European and the national level as concerns about mounting unemployment and a skills crisis took over. In addition, there was a general policy shift from cosmopolitan European Citizenship to a more nationalistic and, reactive citizenship driven by responses to pressing social issues such as extremism, radicalisation, migration and violence. The article concludes that in order to maintain the European project the Active and Participatory agenda needs to urgently be restored to give people a sense of belonging and ownership of Europe.

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Accepted/In Press date: 1 April 2016
e-pub ahead of print date: 1 September 2016
Published date: 1 September 2016
Organisations: Southampton Education School

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 404656
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/404656
ISSN: 1751-1917
PURE UUID: d4558c4c-bf05-42f9-bd49-13df285b1d71

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Date deposited: 16 Jan 2017 14:38
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 04:11

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Contributors

Author: Bryony Hoskins
Author: David Kerr
Author: Liyuan Liu

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