The Resilience of Social Economy in Times of Crisis and Its Contribution to Community Capacity Building

The on-going crisis has accelerated the need for rethinking the respective roles of the market, the state, the “third” sector and the individual. According to the literature review it has been demonstrated that social economy organizations can be more resilient than investor owned enterprises and that the model of economic organisation solely based on the actions of two types of institutions (investor-owned enterprises, public organisations) produce shortcomings. Additionally, it is widely accepted that social capital and the social economy have an important role to play in community capacity building. Countries providing high quality jobs, effective social protection and moving towards a social investment approach have proved to be more resilient to the economic crisis by various studies.  At a time of increasing global competition, major demographic and public budget constraints, new forms of organisation and interaction between public sector, civil society organizations private enterprises and citizens are needed, creating crisis-resistant models for effective operation.

The aim of the present work is to shed light on the crucial role social economy has played in times of crisis based on historical evidence across the Europe. Furthermore, the links between social economy organizations and there territories in which they operate are investigated in relation to the reinforcement of social capital and local development.