Active Citizenship

In this study, the integration policy of Enschede is investigated. More specifically, the work-oriented integration program. Herman van Gunsteren (1992) has developed five concepts of citizenship. These are the republican citizenship, citizenship for all, citizenship as a bearer of rights and preferences, citizenship as a member of a community and the neo-republican citizenship. A definition of citizenship: "Active citizenship refers to the social behavior and independence of citizens, and how service providers and public policy invite citizens to social behavior and self-reliance, and support them in it" (Steyaert, Bodd & Lindens, 2005, p. 23). Citizens are expected to solve the problems as responsible, decent, caring and deliberative citizens. Citizens are considered to build bridges between citizens and between citizens and government. Self-reliance and economic independence are key elements of active citizenship. The idea is that the welfare state made people passive and lazy. This was the reason that people were first called to account for their independency and then also their responsibility.