May 19, 2013 :: 5:22 AM
Scope of the Congress
The world economy is experiencing a process of rapid, profound and widespread change, accentuated by the worldwide economic crisis and the environmental crisis. Various world orders can be glimpsed on the horizon, with very different consequences in terms of responding to the main problems of the 21st century: poverty, the environmental crisis, unemployment and the development of political and economic democracy.
The social economy comprises cooperatives, non-profit and voluntary organisations, mutual societies, associations and other social enterprises. In the near future it could become a pillar of a new model of sustainable economic development that provides satisfactory answers to these global challenges. For some years now, a number of governments have been placing the social economy at the core of their political agendas and many political and scientific institutions have been recognising its enormous potential and urging the authorities to give it priority in their plans.
The objective of this research conference will be to analyse the role that the social economy can play in a new model of sustainable economic development for the countries of both North and South, studying the present-day reality and nature of this socio-economic agent, its ability to provide answers to the main challenges of the economies and societies of North and South and the manner in which it is already doing so, the allies on which it can rely in organising a long-term strategy and the role that governments play and need to play in this process.