In 2010, and under inspiration of the Spanish social economy framework law, a draft framework law was proposed raising tensions between actors in the SE field and between political actors. After three years of negotiations and... [ view full abstract ]
In 2010, and under inspiration of the Spanish social economy framework law, a draft framework law was proposed raising tensions between actors in the SE field and between political actors. After three years of negotiations and hearings with a wide number of actors in the SE, the political system and experts, it was possible to reach to an agreement on a framework which was passed unanimously in the Parliament, marking a unique moment of recognition and consensus for the whole social economy sector, and moving one step more for the effectuation of the National Constitution which considers that there are three sectors of ownership of the means of production.
Among points of tension there was the proposal to create a social enterprise status. Likewise, other actors in the SE field proposed that this should be a social and solidarity economy framework law. However, both social enterprises and solidarity economy were left out in the final act.
In this presentation I take the discussion of the framework law from 2010 to 2013 to observe the features and changes on the SE in Portugal and to discuss, more broadly, the diverse meanings that “social economy”, “social enterprise” and “solidarity economy” have in this context and the actors’ coalitions supporting the different concepts and meanings. These speak as much about the current challenges and challenges in the political and institutional framework of the SE in Portugal as they speak about the history of the SE.
The process mediating between the draft proposal and the approval of the framework law is taken as a critical episode condensing meanings that are embedded in the historical context of the SE. The process is observed focusing the social actors involved, both in the political system and in the social economy, the meanings underlying the discourses and the legal documents and the policy coalitions reproducing these meanings, and the historically dependent institutional framework shaping meanings and power relations.
Content analysis of policy documents, parliamentary debates and hearings, supplemented by observation of some critical meetings and press analysis is the main strategy allowing to identify the meanings, actors and policy coalitions. They allow identifying which actors and institutions support the different meanings of the SE in Portugal and where alliances and consensus are and are not possible.
The excluded from the framework law are observed particularly. Social enterprises are a highly contested concept nowadays, with multiple meanings deriving both from the tradition of social solidarity cooperatives and work integration social enterprises and from the influences of the new models of social business and eared income. Likewise, the concept of solidarity economy is inspired by both the Brazilian and European frameworks while, at the same time, it may find ground on traditional economic forms recognized in the Constitution and in the framework law such as commons lands and workers ownership.
I show that Portugal is undergoing a moment of institutional change which combines the path breaking potential of the current crisis and of the international influences – namely of the European Union – and the path dependent historical trends of available meanings and actors, and the institutions which condense meanings and power relations. I how that instead of a clear institutional path for a specific meaning of SE the traditionally heterogeneous features of Portuguese society allow for the institutional coexistence of multiple meanings.
Institutions, policy coalitions, social economy, social enterprises, solidarity economy
