This paper analyses the political dimension of social enterprise from the perspective of action research (Nielsen & Nielsen 2016). The EMES approach to social enterprise highlights that the social, the economic and the political dimensions together mark out this type of entrepreneurial activity from any other related or non-related activity (Defourny, Hulgård & Pestoff, 2014). Within the political dimension of social enterprise, participatory governance is both the most significant and the most contested. It is contested due to the lack of interest in participatory governance and democracy expressed by parliaments, governments and public authorities that at an ever increasing speed are adopting legal frameworks and ‘eco-systems’ for social enterprise and social entrepreneurship (European Commission, 2014). Irrespective of this lack of interest in participatory governance expressed in politics, scholars continue to emphasize the role of participatory governance as an emblematic dimension when trying to determine the basic characteristics of social enterprise in the so-called SE-field (Pestoff & Hulgård, 2016). First, we outline various dimensions of participation in SE. We do this with a reference to the EMES approach to social enterprise (Nyssens, 2006; Borzaga & Galera, 2013; Pestoff, 2014; Pestoff & Hulgård, 2016) and to empirical evidence indicating that the political criteria (participatory democracy) of SE is the hardest to realize by entrepreneurs and stakeholders engaged in social enterprise (Hulgård & Spear, 2006; European Commission, 2014). Secondly, we will show how the adoption of an Action Research approach to social enterprise can qualify the political dimension of social enterprise both a practical and at scholarly levels (Egmose 2015). We present an Action Research framework for analyzing social enterprise, by referring to secondary data of already existing research (Nyssens, 2006), and illustrate how this can contribute to a strengthened understanding of the political dimension. Finally, we discuss why and how the political dimension should be at the core of any future political strategy or public policy for the enhancement of social enterprise.
References
Borzaga, G. & Galera, G. (2013): Social Enterprise: A Neo-Liberal Strategy or a Participatory Model for Managing General-Interest Issues? Paper presented at 4th EMES International Conference. Liege, July 2014.
Defourny, J. and Nyssens, M. (2014) “The EMES Approach of Social Enterprise in a Comparative Perspective”, in J. Defourny, L. Hulgård and V. Pestoff (eds.), Social Enterprise and the Third Sector – Changing European Landscapes in a Comparative Perspective. London & New York: Routledge.
Defourny, J., Hulgård, L. and Pestoff, V. (eds., 2014) Social Enterprise and the Third Sector – Changing European Landscapes in a Comparative Perspective. New York: Routledge.
Egmose, Jonas (2015): Chapter 9: A common sense of responsibility. Reflecting Experiences of Commoning among Citizens and Scientists in London. I: The Potentials of Action Research in Democratisation of Society. Routledge.
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Nyssens, M. and Petrella, F. (2013), “From common goods to quasi-collective goods: the role of multi-stakeholder ownership”, paper presented at the 4th EMES International Research Conference on Social Enterprise “If not profit, for what? And How?”, EMES Network and University of Liége, 2013, Liége, Belgium. Forthcoming in P. Eynaud, J-L Laville,and D. Young (eds.), Governance & Democracy: civil society in a changing world.
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Pestoff, V. and Hulgård, L. (2016) “Participatory Governance in Social Enterprise”, Voluntas International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organization, Vo. 27, Issue 4, August 2016.
9. Social and solidarity economy, civil society and social movements
