Poverty and Social Exclusion Target. Europe 2020 Strategy Too Much Actor Diversity For Consensus?
Abstract: The purpose of this thesis is to question the cause of the lack of consensus surrounding Europe 2020s poverty and social exclusion target – to lift 20 million people out of poverty and social exclusion. The target was a major development for the European Union’s social dimension. Even so, it did not come easily, with divides over the existence and measurement of such a target. The Commission proposed the use of a sole at-risk-of-poverty indicator in their March 2010 draft, however by June the target included three indicators for poverty and social exclusion; at risk of poverty, jobless households, and material deprivation. Using strands of new institutionalism, this study acknowledges one commonly held premise and introduces a unique hypothesis to be tested. The first reestablishes the recurrent argument that a degree of diversity between the member states is the cause of the lack of consensus. The second concerns what is considered a gap in the current literature, analyzing the diversity between institutional levels focusing on the inclusion of the civil society. In short, this thesis concludes that there is a certain level of horizontal and vertical diversity causing the lack of consensus. However, this inference introduced the notion of a larger complexity issue surrounding poverty. Lastly, that further research is needed with a focus on the multidimensionality of poverty as a concept.
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