Towards Just and Sustainable Economies

Abstract

The need to avoid dangerous climate change whilst meeting the needs of millions in the global north and south suggests that a new economic model is required. Social and solidarity economies have been suggested as an alternative to the failed models of both public and private enterprise. What can they contribute in terms of offering the hope of an economy that includes all, in ways that free markets don’t? Can social and solidarity economies meet social needs, and the building of a sustainable future? How can the state, civil society, universities and local governments support, or retard, the development of social and solidarity economies? What can activists in the late-capitalist economies of the North learn from the experience of the global South, where the welfare state has always been much more limited and society is often on the receiving end of neo-liberal exploitation and unequal power relationships? How can activists in the global South learn from northern social enterprises? In this volume academics from a range of disciplines and from both Europe and the Americas come together to debate these issues and raise some challenging questions for policy-makers and citizens in the global north and south alike.