This contribution investigates how resilience– understood as an unexpected positive outcome in a context of high adversity (Bartley 2006) – is defined in the context of a recent European initiative, the Youth Guarantee (YG). Adopted in 2013 by the Council of the European Union, the YG encourages European member states to secure paths of young NEETs by providing activation, (vocational) training and education within a short time frame (European Council 2013). The YG provides member states with financial resources and clear implementation guidelines. Although a high potential for Europeanisation, I argue that way in which young NEETs – the target group – is conceived as well as their expected resilience are likely to reproduce the national welfare conception of young target group. Based on the analysis of the welfare subject (i.e. young people) as defined in the Youth Guarantee Implementation Plans, the contribution explores how resilience is conceptualized in five national implementation plans representative of different transition regimes (Walther 2007) and activation regimes (Lindsay and Serrano Pascual 2009)

Reference: Bussi, Margherita (2016): Fostering Resilience: The Case of the Youth Guarantee Scheme, Paper presented at the 23rd International of Europeanists, Council for European Studies, 14-16 April, Philadelphia.