Cooperative and Social Enterprises in the New Paradigm : Why in Europe Facts Run Counter to Ideology

The Spanish version of this paper can be found at: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1950559 The paper discusses the renewed interest in the social economy within the European political and institutional discourse. After over two decades during which the economic thought and development strategies in our continent have been monopolized by the model of large capitalistic enterprises within a state-market dichotomy, there is now a greater acknowledgment of the diversity of enterprise forms. The crises that started in 2008 has accelerated this process, which had already started with the decline of the traditional welfare state and the rise of social enterprises, coupled with a more active role played by cooperatives. In this context, the new debate on social innovation arose, which saw the active involvement of the European Commission itself. Despite the limitations imposed by a conceptual and terminological frame of reference that still does not translate into an adequate theory of the pluralism of enterprise forms, this debate reflects the acknowledgement that the European experience is populated by myriad examples, particularly at the local level, of how this pluralism has always been alive and well, and how it can now be an important element in a strategy that can lead us out of the financial and confidence crisis that plagues European societies