“Building Social Work Politics in Europe” is a professional challenge for social work. As a professional challenge, it requires scientific knowledge. This article attempts to define the theoretical framework for appropriate research. For this purpose, the political mandate of social work is initially explained and justified. It will be shown that social work has the ethical and professional mandate to intervene politically wherever social work issues are discussed. Afterwards, “policy practice” is presented as a widely discussed approach to promote research on political action of social work. However, the one-sidedness and weaknesses of this concept are also criticized. In order to understand social work politics and to professionalize it through the contribution of systematic research, a comprehensive, policy-analytical perspective is needed. Social work politics refers to social work policy. Starting from the policy content relevant to social work and service users, the conditions and opportunities for action of social work could be examined. Using the findings and models of policy analysis, a “policy arena model” (PAM) is presented and applied to social work policies in Europe.