Senior citizenship?: Retirement, migration and welfare in the European Union

Description

Debates about citizenship in Europe, particularly in relation to social policy and welfare provision, are set to become increasingly topical as the European Union expands and moves towards greater integration. This book charts the development of mobility and welfare rights for those citizens exercising their right to move or return home on retirement under the Free Movement of Persons provisions and explores their experiences of internati onal mobility. It is set within the context of "Citizenship of the Union". "Senior citizenship?" draws on substantial primary research material to: combine detailed analysis of the framework of EU rights shaping social with in-depth qualitative interviews involving retired migrants across six member states (Greece, Portugal, Italy, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Ireland); describe and evaluate an innovative approach to comparative enquiry that combines biographical interviews with legal and qualitative analysis; highlight the diverse nature of retirement migration encompassing the experiences of returning workers, migrating retirees and post retirement returnees. Topics are explored thematically in the context of comparative social policy, raising important and topical issues a round the future of social citizenship and the implications of the exercise of agency, in an increasingly global and mobile world.

Louise Ackers is a Professor in the Law Department at the University of Lancaster. She has directed a number of projects concerned with the legal aspects of mobility within the EU, citizenship and comparative social policy. Peter Dwyer is a Lecturer in Social Policy at the Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Leeds. His research focuses on social citizenship and welfare reform.

"Louise Ackers and Peter Dwyer have exceptional insights into the evolution of European citizenship, particularly as it bears on the welfare entitlements and residence rights of those who move from one member state to another. Their research makes an original and distinctive contribution to the debates on 'a social Europe'." Tony Warnes, Sheffield Institute for Studies on Ageing