The social economy and the state: linking ambitions with institutions in Québec, Canada

Abstract

English In rapidly developing policy fields such as that of the social economy, institutions play a central role in delimiting the range of the possible. This article suggests that social democratic policy analysts have given too much attention to the financial and operational autonomy of social economy organisations from the state, and have avoided specifying what sort of new state institutions might allow these organisations to reach their progressive ambitions. The experience of Québec, Canada, is used to illustrate how, in the absence of this institutional programme, existing centres of state power can deflect the social economy in a neoliberal direction.

Greening the economy: interrogating sustainability innovations beyond the mainstream

“…As indicated extensively by Moulaert and Nussbaumer (2005), Eaton (2008), Gerometta et al (2005), and Graefe (2002), among others, attending to matters of governance is as important to social economy analyses as it is to other spheres and tiers of governance (Davies, 2008). A second aim of the questionnaire was therefore to construct a more nuanced picture of the governing conditions that frame how ESEEs in Ireland operate.…”

Implementing the third way

“…Not only have the Quebec public services been spared exposure to the harsher edges of doctrinaire neo-liberal reform, but the modernization programme was preceded by a reconfiguration of the Quebec state's relationship with civil society earlier in the decade following extensive public debate on the 'social economy' (Graefe 2001(Graefe , 2002. Quebec, in other words, presents a different political and institutional context for reform, reflecting the specificity, in a North American context, of its governing institutions and model of economic and social development (Bourque 2000).…”

“…This is not to say that the organizations forming the social economy did not exist before the 1990s -in the North American milieu, Quebec has historically had one of the most developed third sectors, with generations of social movements leaving an institutional sedimentation of co-operatives, credit unions, advocacy organizations and non-profit housing associations providing social and welfare services -but rather that the ascription of key economic and social roles to this sector reflects a shift in the debate in the mid-1990s (Graefe 2002). A distinctive feature of this debate is the extent to which community-based development strategies have been promoted by progressive forces, particularly the women's movement, as a response to the challenges of globalization (Graefe 2001).…”

“…A distinctive feature of this debate is the extent to which community-based development strategies have been promoted by progressive forces, particularly the women's movement, as a response to the challenges of globalization (Graefe 2001). Mobilization around this progressive vision of the social economy was reinforced by developments in the trade union movement.…”

“…Mobilization around this progressive vision of the social economy was reinforced by developments in the trade union movement. The Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux (CSN), representing about one-quarter of Quebec's unionized workforce, accepted the social economy as a component of a modernized full employment strategy, along with new approaches to working time and more co-operative labour -management relations (Graefe 2002). This highly visible debate about the social economy overshadowed what remained an academic debate about directions for social democracy (Graefe 2001).…”