Solidarity In The Economic Crisis

As the current economic crisis spreads around the globe questions are being asked about what king of capitalist or post-capitalist economy will follow. There is increasing talk of the need for stringent economic regulation, the need to temper greed and individualism, to make the economy work for human and social development. The search is on for a kinder, greener, less unequal and more redistributive economy. This transitional moment, with its pointed questions about the economy to come, provides an opportunity to assess the role and potential of the 'social economy', that is, economic activity in between market and state oriented towards meeting social needs. Until a decade ago, the term was used mainly by the fringe to describe the 'alternative economy'. Typically, organisations providing affordable child-care to low-wage families in a poor neighbourhood, or those making goods from recycled materials for low-income households, were considered to be residual or marginal to a mainstream dominated by markets and states. In the last decade, expectation in both the developed and developing world has changed in quite radical ways. Mainstream opinion is starting to see the social economy as a source of building social capabilities as well as developing new markets in welfare provision. Policymakers around the world have begun to support the social economy, and increasingly on business grounds, jostling with traditional interest on the fringe in the sector as a moral and social alternative to the capitalist economy. It is precisely this emerging but disputed centrality of the social economy that makes this book so timely. The book positions the social economy conceptually and normatively with the help of case evidence from a number of developed and developing countries. Uniquely, it brings together in English the work of leading scholars of the social economy who are also actively engaged in national and international policy formulation. Although it argues a case for seeing the social economy as distinctive from the state and market in terms of aims, values, and actors, it also notes many overlaps and complementarities once the economy is conceptualised as a plural entity responding to needs in diverse organisational combinations. The book also shows that expectations - social and economic - cannot be divorced from local institutional and historical circumstances and legacies. Accordingly, while certain generic policy principles can be shared internationally, interventions on the ground cannot ignore the demands of situated practice and legacy.

As economic crises, growing inequality and climate change prompt a global debate on the meaning and trajectory of development, increasing attention is focusing on 'social and solidarity economy' as a distinctive approach to sustainable and rights-based development. While we are beginning to understand what social and solidarity economy is, what it promises and how it differs from 'business as usual', we know far less about whether it can really move beyond its fringe status in many countries and regions. Under what conditions can social and solidarity economy scale up and scale out - that is, expand in terms of the growth of social and solidarity economy organizations and enterprises, or spread horizontally within given territories? Bringing together leading researchers, blending theoretical and empirical analysis, and drawing on experiences and case studies from multiple countries and regions, this volume addresses these questions. In so doing, it aims to inform a broad constituency of development actors, including scholars, practitioners, activists and policy makers.

Introduction /Christian Lahusen and Veronica Federico --Denmark /Deniz Neriman Duru, Thomas Spejlborg Sejersen and Hans-Jörg Trenz --France /Manilo Cinalli, Carlo de Nuzzo --Germany /Ulrike Zschache --Greece /Maria M. Mexi --Italy /Veronica Federico and Nicola Maggini --Poland /Janina Petelczyc --Switzerland /Eva Fernández G.G. and Délia Girod --The United Kingdom /Tom Montgomery and Simone Baglioni --Solidarity in the European Union in times of crisis : towards "European solidarity"? /Ester di Napoli and Deborah Russo --Solidarity in times of crisis : disability, immigration and unemployment in Denmark /Deniz Neriman Duru, Thomas Spejlborg Sejersen and Hans-Jörg Trenz --Disability, unemployment, immigraiton : does solidarity matter in times of crisis in France? /Manilo Cinalli, Carlo de Nuzzo --Disability, unemployment, immigration : the implicit role of solidarity in German legislation /Ulrike Zschache --Greece in times of multiple crises : solidarity under stress? /Maria M. Mexi --Disability, unemployment, immigration : does solidarity matter at times of crisis in Italy? /Veronica Federico and Nicola Maggini --Disability, unemployment, immigration : does solidarity matter in times of crisis? : the Polish case /Janina Petelczyc --Switzerland : vulnerable groups and multiple solidarities in a composite state /Eva Fernández G.G. and Tania Abbiate --Solidarity in austerity Britain : the cases of disability, unemployment and migration /Tony Montgomery and Simone Baglioni --Conclusion:Solidarity as a public virture? /Veronica Federico.

The growth of institutional capacity in the developing world has become a central theme in twenty-first-century social science. Many studies have shown that public institutions are an important determinant of long-run rates of economic growth. This book argues that to understand the difficulties and pitfalls of state building in the contemporary world, it is necessary to analyze previous efforts to create institutional capacity in conflictive contexts. It provides a comprehensive analysis of the process of state and nation building in Latin America and Spain from independence to the 1930s. The book examines how Latin American countries and Spain tried to build modern and efficient state institutions for more than a century - without much success. The Spanish and Latin American experience of the nineteenth century was arguably the first regional stage on which the organizational and political dilemmas that still haunt states were faced. This book provides an unprecedented perspective on the development and contemporary outcome of those state and nation-building projects.

Social Movements and Solidarity Structures in Crisis-Ridden Greece explores the rich grassroots experience of social movements in Greece between 2008 and 2016. The harsh conditions of austerity triggered the rise of vibrant mobilizations that went hand-in-hand with the emergence of numerous solidarity structures, providing unofficial welfare services to the suffering population. Based on qualitative field research conducted in more than 50 social movement organizations in Greece's two major cities, the book offers an in-depth analysis of the contentious mechanisms that led to the development of such solidarity initiatives. By analyzing the organizational structure, resources and identity of markets without middlemen, social and collective kitchens, organizations distributing food parcels, social clinics and self-managed cooperatives, this study explains the enlargement of boundaries of collective action in times of crisis.

Organised civil society in Greece is generally regarded as weak with rankings for associational density, volunteerism and levels of social capital traditionally among the lowest in Europe. Austerity and the Third Sector in Greece explores the context behind the statistics and general perceptions of a society of takers, not givers. Stereotypes of a country living beyond its means have been exacerbated by the Eurozone crisis but, since 2008, there has in fact been a great proliferation of organised civil society initiatives in the country. Has the financial crisis seen a belated awakening of Greek civil society? Offering a broad overview of contemporary civil society in Greece this book explores how various characteristics of the country's socio-political context have affected the development of the third sector and examines the effect of the economic crisis on it. Expert contributors combine macro-level analyses with local case studies to form a fascinating new study on the influences of national and regional context on civil society development. Their findings provide not only for a better understanding of similar movements, but also contribute to wider academic debates on societal responses to economic crises.

This book consists of a number of articles presented at the I DUSKE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ?LOCAL INITIATIVES TO THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS? that took place at the University of Deusto on the 24th-26th of February 2010. The forum aimed to be a meeting point and a platform for interdisciplinary exchange of ideas, experiences and initiatives among participants both from Sylff and non-Sylff scientific and professional communities in the light of the 2007-2008 international financial crisis, focusing on feasible, reasonable and creative alternatives to the current socio-economic world view. Moreover, through the forum we exposed and explored some concrete examples of how ordinary people are dealing with and responding to the financial and social challenges posed by the last crisis of capitalism in their everyday lives.