Keith Hart

Antonio David Cattani

Jean-Louis Laville

The global financial crisis has renewed concern about whether capitalist markets are the best way of organizing economic life. Would it not be better if we were to treat the economy as something made and remade by people themselves, rather than as an impersonal machine? The object of a human economy is the reproduction of human beings and of whatever sustains life in general. Such an economy would express human variety in its local particulars as well as the interests of all humanity. The editors have assembled here a citizen’s guide to building a human economy. This project is not a dream but is part of a collective effort that began a decade ago at the first World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and has gathered pace ever since. Over thirty original essays address topics that range from globalization, community participation and microcredit to corporate social responsibility and alternative energy. Each offers a critical guide to further reading. The Human Economy builds on decades of engaged research to bring a new economic vision to general readers and a comprehensive guide for all students of the contemporary world.

The Human Economy

Dennis R. Young

Philippe Eynaud

If the twentieth century was only focused on the complementarity and the opposition of market and state, the twenty-first century has now to deal with the prominence of the third sector, the emergence of social enterprises and other solidarity hybrid forms. The concept of civil society organisations (CSOs) spans this diversity and addresses this new complexity. The first part of the book highlights the organizational dimensions of CSOs and analyses the growing role of management models and their limits. Too often, the study of CSO governance has been centered on the role of the board and has not sufficiently taken into account the different types of accountability environments. Thus, the conversation about CSO governance rises to the level of networks rather than simple organizations per se, and the role of these networks in setting the agenda in a democratic society. In this perspective, the second part emphasizes the institutional dimensions of CSO governance by opening new avenues on democracy. First, the work of Ostrom about governing the commons provides us new insights to think community self-governance. Second, the work of Habermas and Fraser opens the question of deliberative governance and the role of public sphere to enlarge our vision of CSO governance. Third, the concepts of substantive rationality and economy proposed respectively by Ramos and Polanyi reframe the context in which the question can be addressed. Lastly, this book argues for a stronger intercultural approach useful for the renewal of paradigms in CSOs research. This book has for objective to present a unique collective work in bringing together 33 authors coming from 11 countries to share perpectives on civil society governance and will be of interest to an international audience of researchers and policy-makers.

Governance and Democracy

Civil Society, the Third Sector and Social Enterprise

Benoît Lévesque

Marguerite Mendell

Alliances de recherche universités-communautés en économie sociale

Diverse Approaches and Practices in Europe and Canada

The Social Economy

Luc Boltanski

Bruno Frère

Dans cet ouvrage, Bruno Frère montre comment l'imaginaire associationniste de l'économie qualifiée aujourd'hui de " solidaire " plonge ses racines profondes dans les mouvements et les pensées révolutionnaires libertaires qui ont agité la France du milieu du XIXe siècle. Ces mouvements apparaissaient alors comme une réelle proposition d'organisation sociale et politique alternative à l'économie de marché, sans pour autant céder aux sirènes du socialisme organisé et à la dictature du prolétariat. Ils portaient les espoirs de résorber ce qui apparaissait comme étant une première crise de la modernité. Aujourd'hui, cet imaginaire semble renaître avec les initiatives de microcrédit, d'entreprises alternatives, de services de proximité, de commerce équitable et d'échanges non monétaires. Peut-on déjà y voir une voie de sortie hors de la crise actuelle la modernité ?

Le nouvel esprit solidaire

Jean-Louis Laville

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