Welfare states are subject to constant change. Societal and political changes in recent decades have made social services increasingly crucial in the provision of welfare. Such conversions in the welfare architecture are not remaining without implications for the citizens concerned.

This article illustrates the importance of social services in the context of current social investment strategies. It outlines a program of new challenges, pitfalls and opportunities for the effective realization of welfare citizenship in a service-based welfare architecture by contextualizing sui-generis characteristics of social services in the area of tension between democratic demands and current forms of welfare architecture and provision.