Introduction

One of the defining features of post-Second World War European economies has been the assumption that the state is responsible for alleviating social hardships produced by capitalist relations. Over the past 20 or 30 years this assumption has been challenged to differing degrees in various national, political and economic contexts. We have witnessed both structural shifts to the functioning of different national ‘welfare regimes’ (Esping-Andersen, 1990; Jessop, 1999), and a situation in which the very notion of ‘welfare’ is increasingly an important site of ideological contestation and political debate. These developments are bound up with a series of political shifts that include new forms of governance through which states exercise power as demonstrated by processes of decentralisation and devolution (Rose, 1996; Jones et al, 2005); the rise of public–private partnerships in the conception and delivery of local, regional and national policies (Peck and Theodore, 2001; Bode, 2006); and the increasing encroachment of neoliberal logics on arenas previously considered ‘public’ (Peck and Tickell, 2002). It is also in this horizon that the growing importance of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) can be charted, various kinds of voluntary agencies, grassroots citizenship groups and the faith-based organisations (FBOs) with which this volume as a whole is concerned. Crucially, these organisations are often intervening in debates over progressive social justice, reappraising the ethics, politics and scope of ‘welfare’, as well as delivering forms of welfare traditionally considered to be the state's concern. The purpose of this volume is precisely to interrogate the nature of these interventions by religious organisations, and in particular by FBOs, into debates around European welfare and social exclusion. This chapter provides an introduction to the key terms and debates useful for the conceptualisation of the political work of FBO activity. In particular, it explores how the multiplicity of FBO activities signals a broader set of (re)configurations of state–religion relations across different European contexts. As the chapter demonstrates, researching the FBO phenomenon necessarily involves raising questions about the meanings and limits of secularism as the dominant ideological narrative for thinking about welfare practices. It also opens up interesting perspectives on the different ways in which social exclusions are identified and challenged by particular urban publics and forms of citizenship.