Peripheralization, Political Discontent, and Social and Solidarity Economy—Case Studies From Rural Hungary and Germany

The reintegration of Central and Eastern European (CEE) economies into globalized capitalism resulted in increasing regional polarization and the emergence of internal peripheries. The crisis of the globalized capitalist economy in 2008 resulted in the further peripheralization of rural areas, and the related crisis of representative democracies triggered rural resentment against the existing order. Inhabitants of peripheralized areas have a feeling of abandonment and political discontent. The rise of right-wing populism may be understood as a revolt of people living in precarious conditions in peripheralized areas both in Hungary and Germany. Left-wing populism, which builds on equality and social justice and is based on radical democracy, has not been able so far to reach the precaritized inhabitants of peripheralized rural areas. Solidarity economy, which is a contemporary social movement, refers to a comprehensive program aimed at transforming the entire economy, and may have the potential to address the political discontent of people living in peripheralized rural areas. In spite of the rising support for right-wing populism, social and solidarity economy (SSE) initiatives are being carried out in rural peripheries. These initiatives are based on the principles of participatory and economic democracy. Spaces provided by SSE initiatives can become forums for deliberation and co-management to develop economic democracy and become seeds of a solidarity economy movement in CEE. Therefore, based on a critical realist ethnographic approach, this paper aims to answer the question of how SSE initiatives may address the everyday material challenges and political discontent of people living in peripheralized villages by studying two SSE initiatives being carried out in two contrasting cases of peripheralization. Studying SSE initiatives in relation to 1) the locality they are embedded in, 2) “subaltern” groups within the locality, and 3) participatory, economic and 4) representative democracy helps to better understand in what ways SSE initiatives can mobilize political discontent to strengthen the solidarity economy movement in CEE.

The Evolution of Community Development Banks Influenced by E-Payment and Its Social Impact on Brazil

Microcredit involves offering credit in small amounts and at low interest rates to economically disadvantaged populations and those who cannot offer guarantees. The offer of microcredit for solidarity purposes is not aimed at increasing an organization's profits but rather toward local economic development and as an initiative to eradicate poverty. The first community development bank was founded in Brazil in 1998. Such banks offer financial, solidary-based, networked services of an associative nature and are aimed at reorganizing local economies through job and income generation and establishment of a solidarity economy. This chapter presents the following problem question: How has the mobile payment or electronic payment technology impacted the performance of Brazilian solidary digital banks? It also presents guidelines for replicating this model in developing countries.

A Territorial-Driven Approach to Capture the Transformative Momentum of the Social Economy Especially from the Agricultural Cooperatives

In the last few lustrums, the literature has searched for more precise methods to assess the socio-economic importance of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). On that basis, this article offers a new way of assessing the SSE impact, enhancing the understanding of the SSE potential for socio-economic transformation. An evolutionary micro–meso–macro and territorial theoretical framework is developed, utilizing, along with the assistance of a qualitative methodology, studies on the transformation promoted by the SSE on the sugar cane cluster of Veracruz (Mexico). The main results of the article are that the SSE boost beneficiaries, while the protagonists of the transformation cannot be defined a priori, but are rather conformed by transformation vectors promoted by the SSE: their values shared by a wide spectrum of actors, the SSE socio-economic and organizational specificities, and their rooting in the productive system. The fundamental conclusion of the article is the need for a “territorial-driven approach” of the SSE’s impact, compared to the dominant “stakeholder-driven approach”. The main limitations (and suggestions for future studies) are the empirical investigation of a single case, and the need to develop a qualitative and quantitative system of indicators of the transformative drive of SSE.

Kontribusi Community Supported Agriculture untuk Gerakan Agraria di Indonesia: Pelajaran dari Jerman

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is a model of cooperation between food producers and consumers in carrying out agriculture that has emerged in Global North’s countries. The establishment of CSA is related to the desire of a few people striving for a more equitable food system than the global and industrial food system which marginalizes the welfare of farmers. Building on the ethnographic study of the CSA Garten Coop in Freiburg, Germany, and comparing it with studies of CSA in other countries, this paper tries to explore the possibilities of how CSA can offer farmers an alternative agricultural model for the sustainability of their farm and its contribution to agrarian movement, especially in Indonesia. The results show that CSA provides this alternative through rearranging the food system with a more democratic, autonomous, and equal management of production resources, income certainty for farmers through consumer commitment and by the solidarity economy, and independence through the principles of sustainable agriculture. Therefore, CSA indirectly contributes to the agrarian movement by providing the possibility for farmers to maintain their farming business, along with their land tenure or ownership, as well as a forum for organizing farmers and consumers to raise awareness of the food system. Keywords: Agrarian Movement, Community Supported Agriculture, Solidarity Economy, Producer-Consumer Partnership. Intisari: Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) merupakan model kerjasama produsen dan konsumen pangan dalam menyelenggarakan pertanian yang banyak muncul di negara-negara Global Utara. Pendiriannya tak lepas dari keinginan segelintir orang mengupayakan sebuah sistem pangan yang lebih adil dari sistem pangan global dan industrial yang meminggirkan kesejahteraan petani. Dengan menggunakan studi etnografi pada komunitas CSA Garten Coop di Freiburg, Jerman dan membandingkan dengan studi-studi atas CSA di sejumlah negara lainnya, artikel ini disusun untuk menelusuri kemungkinan tentang bagaimana CSA dapat menawarkan model pertanian alternatif bagi petani untuk keberlanjutan usaha taninya dan kontribusinya terhadap gerakan agraria, terutama di Indonesia. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa CSA memberikan alternatif ini lewat pengaturan ulang sistem pangan dengan manajemen sumber daya produksi yang lebih demokratis, otonom, dan setara, kepastian pendapatan bagi petani lewat komitmen konsumen dan ekonomi solidaritas, serta independensi melalui prinsip pertanian berkelanjutan. Oleh karena itu, CSA secara tidak langsung berkontribusi dalam gerakan agraria dengan memberikan kemungkinan bagi petani untuk mempertahankan usaha taninya, berikut penguasaan atau kepemilikan lahannya, sekaligus wadah pengorganisasian petani dan konsumen untuk menumbuhkan kesadaran akan sistem pangan. Kata Kunci: Community Supported Agriculture, Ekonomi Solidaritas, Gerakan Agraria, Kerjasama Produsen-Konsumen.

Popular and Solidarity Economy: Policies and Realities in the Local Context—The Case of the Agricultural Productive Associations of El Valle, Ecuador

The popular and solidarity economy (EPS) emerges as an alternative approach to poverty aligned with the principles of sustainable development; in this sense, some countries in the region have adopted policies for its growth and development, among them Ecuador. The experience of a rural community was shown; the objective of the study was to identify the factors that hinder the achievement of better efficiency indexes, regarding the implementation of policies at the local level, with respect to rural productive associations. The case of the agricultural productive associations located in the parish of El Valle, Cuenca, Ecuador, was studied. The type of research was mixed: quantitative to support the information extracted from the instruments applied and derive the pertinent analysis and qualitative to collect primary information from the actors involved in the study. We used the action research model through the use of surveys, interviews and focus groups. The key contribution of this work was to making visible and understanding the needs of the rural communities of the sector from their development perspectives, respecting their ancestral knowledge and articulating from the academy the private–public action for the generation of policies for governance, effective application of democracy and promotion of the technical and associative potential of the agroecological productive units. The results show regularities in terms of their socioeconomic situation, their mode of action and the impact caused on their productive dynamics by the atomized decisions of local actors in the exercise of governance. These fail to articulate the implementation of policies at the territorial level to the detriment of their effectiveness and efficiency and, therefore, do not bring about substantial changes in their levels of dependence and dynamics of productive activity—diagnostic components that will be used for the formulation of joint multilevel policies.

Transformative Communication Radar: Practices, Action and Praxis Communication in Solidarity Economy Networks in Portugal and Catalonia

This article explores the transformational character of solidarity economy network communication in Portugal and Catalonia, focusing on the first two months of the crisis brought on by COVID-19. We assume that what these networks choose to convey (or remain silent on) in their public communications reflects their positions in the fields of action and values and their theoretical alignment, establishing an ethico-political orientation. Through the analysis of virtual content conveyed by solidarity economy organisations, we analyse the topics covered, the types of content and sources cited, and the level of demand in the discourse, as well as their individual, institutional and collective character. The results reveal very different communicative approaches in each of the cases analysed: from silence or total absence of communicative practices to what can be considered a transformational praxis communication, based on collective action challenging the structures of power and domination and pointing out ways to overcome them. The article proposes a transformative communication radar linking Habermas’s theory of communicative action and Fuchs’s Marxist-inspired praxis communication concept, as a way of distinguishing merely instrumental communicative approaches from those guided by communicative and cooperative rationality driving new agreements and societal transformations.

Food solidarity economy: evaluating transition community initiatives in Friuli Venezia Giulia region

Climate change, ecological challenges, and economic and social crises imply paradigmatic and structural innovations. In the effort to drive transition toward sustainability, local communities often take the lead, mobilize support, and organize initiatives based on the principles of solidarity economy. Our study presents a qualitative evaluation and comparison of three local bottom-up initiatives from Friuli Venezia Giulia, a Northern Italian region, each following alternative and unique models of production and consumption of wheat and flour. The reconstruction of the transition paths of the experiences, together with documental analysis and interviews, allowed us to deduce the influence of alternative approaches and subsequent degree of effectiveness in building a community and driving it toward sustainability.