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Poche prestazioni sociali in Italia sono state oggetto di aspri scontri, anche ideologici, quanto il Reddito di Cittadinanza (RdC). Da un lato la retorica della panacea contro i mali del welfare italiano e dell’abolizione della povertà; dall’altro quella di una misura che incentiva l’ozio, facile preda dei «furbetti» quando non delle organizzazioni criminali. Coerentemente con le promesse fatte in campagna elettorale, il governo Meloni ha introdotto una riforma che supera il RdC, integralmente sostituito da nuove misure di contrasto alla povertà e di inclusione lavorativa: l’Assegno di Inclusione e il Supporto per la Formazione e il Lavoro. La riforma Meloni va nella direzione di superare i limiti e correggere gli errori di disegno e attuazione del RdC? Le nuove misure funzioneranno oppure la riforma avrà creato nuovi problemi, forse maggiori di quelli che si propone di risolvere? Per rispondere a queste domande, il volume prende le mosse da un’analisi sistematica dei risultati e dei limiti principali del RdC nei suoi quattro anni di vita. Questo consente di avanzare delle considerazioni sulla riforma Meloni, valutandola rispetto a come dovrebbe funzionare uno schema di contrasto alla povertà, un tema al centro dell’elaborazione progettuale e dell’azione dell’Alleanza contro la povertà in Italia sin dalla sua costituzione. Sostegno ai poveri: quale riforma? si rivolge a un pubblico vasto, interessato alle que- stioni economiche e sociali del nostro Paese, così come al pubblico dell’accademia e al mondo di chi si occupa professionalmente delle politiche sociali, e ai giornalisti e ai policy-maker che si occupano di questioni di politica economica. Il volume è il frutto del lavoro svolto dagli autori nel Comitato scientifico dell’Alleanza contro la povertà in Italia, nata nel 2013, che raggruppa un ampio numero di soggetti sociali che hanno deciso di contribuire in maniera collettiva alla costruzione di adeguate politiche pubbliche contro la povertà assoluta

In recent years, anti-poverty policies have been at the centre of profound change. As a result of the crisis and the increased number of working poor, every European country, including most recently Greece and Italy, have deployed a wide variety of policy tools to strengthen this pillar of welfare supply: minimum income schemes, as means-tested income support anti-poverty schemes, tax credits and in-work benefits aimed increasing work incentives for low-income workers and their families, active labour market policies as well as dedicated social services (housing, education, childcare, and healthcare) to facilitate social inclusion. As a consequence of these reforms, all European countries can now rely on an extended social safety net to fight poverty and social exclusion. However, these readjustments were not without trade-offs. In fact, while the number of beneficiaries has been steadily on the rise, means-testing, controls, and work conditionalities have been strongly reinforced with a marked pressure to favour work at any cost, even at the price of precarious or low-paid employment. In this chapter, we focus on these transformations in a selected group of European countries: Germany, France, Denmark, and Italy, representative of different welfare regimes (Continental, Nordic, and Mediterranean) and different traditions of welfare measures against poverty.

Few social benefits in Italy have been the subject of such bitter clashes, including ideological ones, as the Reddito di Cittadinanza (RdC). On the one hand is the rhetoric of a panacea for the ills of Italian welfare and the abolition of poverty; on the other is the rhetoric of a measure that incentivizes idleness, easy prey for fraudsters, if not criminal organisations. In line with the promises made during the electoral campaign, the Meloni government has introduced a reform that overcomes the RdC, replacing it entirely with new measures to combat poverty and promote work integration: Inclusion Allowance (Assegno di Inclusione) and Training and Work Support (Supporto per la Formazione e il Lavoro). Does the reform overcome the limitations and correct the errors in the design and implementation of the RdC? This is the question this article aims to answer, building on an analysis of the RdC’s main achievements and limitations. This allows to assess the Meloni reform, evaluating it against the benchmark of how a well-functioning anti-poverty scheme should work.

This chapter discusses the decline of rural poverty in the Global South has been counterbalanced by the rise of social fragmentation and new forms of social exclusion and poverty in both the Global South and the Global North. It focuses on the transformations of the urban systems of inequalities produced by modernisation, industrialisation, and urbanisation in different urban contexts of the Global North and South. An urban system of inequalities is understood as the different mix and level of gender, ethnicity, class, and demographic inequalities that characterise cities in different historical and development contexts. The chapter examines in the more developed cities the migration flow provokes a feeling of insecurity and competition in the native population that may turn into discrimination, expulsion, and repression, thus fomenting inequalities. Social coalitions, urban mobilisations, and protests are part of a variegated ecosystem of practices that are changing the nature and content of urban mobilisation.