Cristiano Bee is a Lecturer in Public Policy at the University of Surrey (UK) where he holds the Jean Monnet Module 'Current trends in European Integration Studies: Beyond the Eurocrisis'. From 2015, he will be a Marie Curie Fellow at the Institute of European Studies of Bilgi University (Turkey). His research focuses on the analysis of institutional communication models, active citizenship practices and public sphere development.

Roberta Guerrina is a Reader in Politics at the University of Surrey. She is a European policy analyst with a particular interest in European social policy, citizenship policy and gender equality. She has published in the area of women's human rights, work-life balance, identity politics and the idea of Europe. She is author of Mothering the Union (Manchester University Press) and Europe: History, Ideas and Ideologies (Arnold).

The book provides a timely reflection on current policies and practices of active in citizenship Europe. More specifically the chapters provide, on a comparative basis, insights regarding three interrelated levels of analysis: an overview of current understandings of civic and political participation; a focus on the development of active citizenship at the EU level; an overview of specific public discourses surrounding active citizenship in four European countries (Portugal, Turkey, Italy and the UK).

This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Civil Society.

1. INTRODUCTION: Framing Civic Engagement, Political Participation and Active Citizenship in Europe 2. Political and Civic Engagement and Participation: Towards an Integrative Perspective 3. Participation, Dialogue, and Civic Engagement: Understanding the Role of Organized Civil Society in Promoting Active Citizenship in the European Union 4. Europe as a Beacon of Democracy? Citizenship Policies Relating to Youth and Migrants in Portugal 5. Civic and Political Participation of Women and Youth in Turkey: An Examination of Perspectives of Public Authorities and NGOs 6. On Active Citizenship: Discourses and Language about Youth and Migrants in Italy 7. Active Citizenship in the UK: Assessing Institutional Political Strategies and Mechanisms of Civic Engagement