Ciudadanos multinivel y políticas de bienestar

Citizenship is related to a compound of practices and uses which confers the quality of active members to individuals within their political community of reference. The conceptualization and study of citizenship has mainly focussed on the functional dimension of societal life. However, citizens are also members of their spatial polities, something which is reflected in the revival of territorial identities and the growing importance of the meso-level in contemporary political life. The interaction between the local and the global, which manifest itself in both processes of supra-national Europeanization and sub-state subsidiarization, is the main analytical thrust of this article. The impacts of the so-called ‘new social risks’ in those realms closer to citizens’ lives validate the claim that provision of personal care services and ‘safety nets’ benefits’ should prioritize both principles of proximity and proportionality.