How Civil Society Organisations Mediate Social Rights after Welfare Chauvinist Reforms: A Swiss Case Study

Rulla Sutter ()

No 60, University of Bern Social Sciences Working Papers from University of Bern, Department of Social Sciences

Abstract: Amid Europe's debate on welfare chauvinist policies, this study analyses the impact of the 2019 Swiss Foreign Nationals and Integration Act (FNIA) reform. This contribution investigates how the increased social assistance non-take-up reshaped the role of a key CSO engaged at the poverty line: Caritas. Within a convergent mixed-methods design, the study combines full access to the CSO’s administrative data with thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews and a focus group. Findings confirm the CSO characteristics as a responsive but only temporary actor: constrained to one-off financial aid, the organisation must refer increasing numbers of clients to state assistance - even when such referrals may jeopardise residence status. By tracing how social rights are mediated within a broader climate of residence-related insecurity, the study advances the understanding of (a) welfare non-take-up, (b) the effects of welfare chauvinist reforms in general, while also (c) demonstrating the socio-political relevance of CSO data.

Keywords: exclusion; migration; cso; non-take-up; welfare chauvinism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 D33 H55 L31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2026-03-05
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