Social innovation discourses see in social challenges opportunities to make societies more sustainable and cohesive through inclusive practices, coproduction and proactive grassroots initiatives. In this paper we are concerned first that the concept has been stretched in so many directions that it is at breaking point. We illustrate this by documenting the varied uses of social innovation in different academic and policy discourses. Second, we assume that, if social innovation is to be a useful concept for policy-makers, then it must tell us something about what adjustments are needed to develop an effective political economy that is social innovation ready. Finally, we argue that what is needed is more theoretical and empirical work to help social innovation to develop into an effective policy tool.

Germany came relatively unscathed through the economic turbulence of recent years. For some observers, Germany is the biggest beneficiary of the Eurozone and the winner of the crisis. This begs the question of why, at the height of Germany’s post-war European influence, have an increasing number of Germans withdrawn their support from the European project? The Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany, AfD) is Germany’s first Eurosceptic party to attract substantial electoral support in local, national and European elections. The article firstly presents a brief summary of the AfD’s European politics. It then traces the party’s ideological roots back to ordoliberal critiques of the Maastricht Treaty and argues that there was a deep scepticism towards European integration among Germany’s conservative elites well before the introduction of the Euro. The sudden surge in German Euroscepticism has to be understood within the context of broader cultural changes and a lack of political choice. An unprecedented moral panic about European bailouts and the European Central Bank’s monetary policy created a sense of emergency that paved the way for the AfD’s success.

The UK government has called for a rehabilitation revolution in England and Wales and put its faith in market testing. It hopes this will lead to greater innovation, resulting in reductions in reoffending while also driving down costs. However, many of the most innovative developments in criminal justice over recent decades have come through social innovation. Examples include restorative justice and justice reinvestment. In this article we argue that while social innovation will respond to some extent to conventional economic policy levers such as market testing, deregulation and the intelligent use of public sector purchasing power it is not simply an extension of the neo-liberal model into the social realm. Social innovation, based on solidarity and reciprocity, is an alternative to the logic of the neo-liberal paradigm. In policy terms, the promotion of social innovation will need to take account of the interplay between government policy, social and cultural norms and individual and social capacity. Current proposals for reforming the criminal justice system may not leave sufficient scope to develop the conditions for effective social innovation.

This article considers negative or critical views towards democracy and politics among young people, including supporters of ultra-patriotic or populist radical right movements, in the UK, eastern Germany and Russia. These countries represent a range of political heritages and current constitutions of democracy but, in all three contexts, it is suggested, young people experience some degree of the closing down of 'legitimate' political discourse as a result of the social distance between 'politicians' and 'people like us' and the legal and cultural circumscriptions on 'acceptable' issues for discussion. The article draws on survey data, semi-structured interviews and ethnographic case studies from the MYPLACE project to show variation between young people in these three countries in their experience of formal politics as a 'politics of silencing'. Moreover, the article explores the relationship between perceived 'silencing', the expression of dissatisfaction with democracy and receptivity to populist radical right ideology.

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