La Economía Social en la literatura económica y en los hechos: 30 años de historia del CIRIEC-España

TThe speaker assesses the development of the social economy of Europe during the period of 1986-2016, from both a scientific and institutional perspective. In the scientific aspect, the speaker evaluates the big progress that has been made in the development of a scientific paradigm of the social economy, which has conceptually defined exactly what is enabling the production of harmonised and comparable statistics in the international sphere. The conference also emphasises that cooperativism is the alma mater of the social economy, due to the strength of its theoretical foundations, the values it adds to the social economy and its enterprise deployment all over the world. In the institutional aspect, the speaker emphasises the progress made in Europe in the organisational structuring of the social economy and the surfacing of this on the political agenda of the European Commission and in the legislation of various European Union countries, although it also points out that in the period of 2005-2014 there has been a significant political blackout in the Commission regarding the cooperatives and the majority of social economy entities, producing a reductionism and impoverishment of the role assigned to the social economy in the presidency period of Durão Barroso. Lastly, the speaker reflects on the inrush of social businesses on the political agenda of the Commission and on the concept of corporate social responsibility, indicating that if there is any representative model of said social responsibility it is that of the cooperatives and the rest of the social economy businesses. The speaker concludes by highlighting the importance of diverse forms of enterprise and the correct functioning of the market for economic and social development. As the market cannot function by itself, it is made clear that the key which allows a balance of a plural economy system is not the market, but the State and the political leaders that make it within the framework of a democratic and participative society.