Books in the Economie sociale et Economie publique / Social Economy and Public Economy series

Throughout the world, cooperatives, non-profit and mutual benefit organizations, foundations, and other social enterprises play an important role in job creation, social cohesion, innovation and regional development. The book explains why it is important to have statistics on the social economy and to project how we might better understand it.

The articulation between the social and solidarity-based economy (SSE) and territory is not self-evident. For the contributions to this volume, the challenge was one of disentangling these interrelations by avoiding two pitfalls. The first, the idealist perspective, sees SSE as the magic answer to all neoliberalism-related ills. The demystifing perspective, by contrast, emphasizes the relentless routinization and isomorphism of SSE enterprises, which eventually end up resorting to market-oriented and/or public economy oriented models. Local case studies can extricate from this dilemma. Close observation of complex local configurations where public, private, associative and cooperative actors and issues are deeply entangled, enables to achieve a nuanced understanding of the territorial dynamics of the SSE. This book is the result of the International Ciriec working group on SSE and territory (http://www.ciriec.uliege.be/en/research/commission-es/themes-en-cours/theme-de-recherche-1-2). It emanates from an interdisciplinary dialogue conducted among researchers from nine countries and two continents, Europe and America. If contexts vary from one country to another, the contributions underline the capacity of SSE to elaborate original inputs to social, economic and sustainable local development. Based on original case studies, the contributions illustrate different strategies of SSE organisations in their respective territories. SSE provides an innovative answer to changes in socio-economic and political regulations, by promoting new forms of territorial cooperation. Despite the differences between the case studies, all the chapters of this book contribute towards a balanced approach to the territorial regimes of the SSE which interweaves socio-economic approaches to local and community development, analysis of SSE governance, social mobilizations and territorial policymaking.

Over thirty years, privatization of public enterprises was in the air. Before and during this period of neo-liberalism, and since the 2008 crisis, public enterprises were nonetheless created. This book looks at public enterprises with new eyes.

After a general analysis of public policies concerning the social economy, its key features, objectives and pattern of evolution, this book provides a supranational and international approach from both a European perspective (examining the policies of European bodies) and a South American perspective.

Is the major crisis that began in 2008 nearing the end? Governments and analysts have time and again announced that. Yet this diagnosis remains very premature even now. The level of unemployment is still high in many countries. While the massive aids provided by the States to the economy have allowed them to avoid the collapse of the economic system, they have paradoxically exposed the States to their own failure. Many countries in Europe are in precarious situations. Far beyond Europe the role played by the State is in question. Which measures must be taken by the public authorities in order to remedy the economic crisis? Are we witnessing the emergence of a new form of regulation? How will the general interest be carried and defended in future? How have the relations between the State and citizens changed? What are the national or continental variations on these themes? Through international comparisons, specialists from Europe, Africa and the Americas linked to CIRIEC International bring new answers to these important questions. La crise majeure débutée en 2008 est-elle terminée ? Gouvernements et analystes l¿ont annoncé à maintes reprises. Pourtant, ce diagnostic reste aujourd¿hui encore très prématuré. Le taux de chômage demeure élevé dans de nombreux pays. Car, si les aides massives apportées par les États à l¿économie ont permis d¿éviter l¿effondrement du système économique, elles ont paradoxalement exposé les États à leur propre faillite. Plusieurs pays d¿Europe sont dans des situations précaires. Bien au-delà de l¿Europe, le rôle joué par l¿État est en question. Quelles mesures doivent être prises par les autorités publiques pour remédier à la crise économique ? Assiste-t-on à l¿émergence d¿un nouveau mode de régulation ? Comment est désormais porté et défendu l¿intérêt général ? Comment les rapports entre l¿État et les citoyens sont-ils transformés ? Quelles sont les variations nationales ou continentales sur ces thèmes ? C¿est à ces questions communes que différents spécialistes d¿Europe, d¿Afrique et des Amériques liés au CIRIEC international répondent dans cet ouvrage dans une perspective comparée.