Active Citizenship in the UK

Abstract

Abstract In this chapter, I outline the core characteristics of the British model of active citizenship. The institutionalization of practices of civic and political participation has been a clear objective of both New Right and New Labour governments and more recently of the coalition government led by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. Regardless of the ideological differences, across time active citizenship has developed assuming common patterns, with specific characteristics that put emphasis on individual and collective responsibility, on the development of community cohesion to solve specific social problems and on the provision to the Third Sector of specific tasks in order to deliver public services. This approach is not free from ambiguities, as it is argued in the presentation of the data from the analysis. Activists vindicate their autonomy, claiming that New Labour reforms as well as the recent Big Society approach have been one sided and in some cases favored the emergence of coalition groups in spite of the survival of smaller organizations. The chapter also focuses on the active participation of British organizations in European networks and at the opportunities that EU funding has opened for activating projects of transnational solidarity. Under this perspective, the chapter presents some first insights on the scenarios opened by the Brexit and the consequences of the leave vote for civil society organizations.