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The contributions to this volume, flowing from an inter-regional and international network of scholars and community organizations, analyze how the social economy, in its many manifestations, interacts with and shares commonalities with organizations in the other sectors of the economy. Taken as a whole, Researching the Social Economy enriches our understanding of how this important cluster of organizations contributes to Canadian society in both economic and social terms, and lays the groundwork for future study."--Pub. desc

Québec has been structuring and promoting a social economy sector since the mid-1990s. What explains this specificity of the Québec social model? Careful process tracing analysis reveals that the mobilization of Québec's left in the mid-1990s, followed by coalition engineering during the 1996 economy and employment summit, account for Québec's distinct trajectory. Consistent with power resource theory (PRT), at the agenda-setting stage, protagonists of Québec's social economy policies were associated with the left. Contrary to what is assumed by PRT, however, at the decision stage, the right's consent to social economy policies was not conditioned by a weak bargaining position or by a fear of antagonizing voters.RÉSUMÉLe Québec appuie et structure un secteur de l'économie sociale depuis le milieu des années 1990. Comment expliquer cette spécificité du modèle social québécois? Une analyse attentive du retraçage des processus révèle que la mobilisation de la gauche québécoise au milieu des années 1990, suivie d'une coalition autour de l'économie sociale formée au moment du Sommet sur l'économie et l'emploi en 1996, expliquent la trajectoire distincte du Québec. De façon cohérente avec la théorie des ressources de pouvoir (PRT), à l'étape de la mise à l'agenda, les protagonistes des politiques visant à appuyer l'économie sociale au Québec étaient associés à la gauche. Contrairement à ce qui est supposé par la PRT, cependant, à l'étape de la prise de décision, l'appui de la droite à ces politiques ne reposait pas nsur un faible rapport de force ou sur une crainte de s'aliéner les électeurs.

Social economy refers to a wide variety of enterprises and organizations that produce goods and services with the expressed goal of maximizing social, environmental or cultural impact. In many countries, it is emerging as an integrated system of social innovation, rooted in local and regional development and supported by new systems of governance based on partnerships with government, labour and the private sector. In this article, Nancy Neamtan discusses the emergence of the social economy in many countries in Europe, North America, Latin America and Africa, arguing that, rather than being considered a potential competitor with public or private enterprises, social economy should be considered an important part of an economic recovery strategy. In order for social economy to contribute to sustainable development, its existence should be formally recognized as an essential component of a pluralist economy and the manifestation of new relationships among the market, the public sector and civil society. In this respect, innovation in governance, adaptation of investment tools to the characteristics of the social economy and more research about the dynamics of the emerging experiences of social economy are considered key challenges for the future.