Perspectives on social innovation from the south: power, asymmetries and the role of the State

ARIEL GORDON; LUCAS BECERRA; MARIANO FRESSOLI

ECOLOGY AND SOCIETY

RESILIENCE ALLIANCE

Año: 2017

1708-3087

Social innovation (SI) can offer alternative forms of organization and novel solutions to complex problems faced by contemporary societies. As the State is increasingly under pressure from mounting societal challenges, it is assumed that SI can help to provide bottom up solutions in ways that can create transformative change. However, the relation between bottom up initiatives and the State can be difficult and sometimes contradictory. Even more, assumptions about the diminishing powers of the State can be misleading and overstress the role of SI. Based on the study of the recent South American experience, in this paper we depart from this assumption seeking to understand what could be the role of public policies as initiators or supporter of SI. By adopting a multi-level perspective (MLP), this paper will analyze processes of linkage and direct intervention of public policies with SI in Argentina and Brazil. We will analyze two top-down initiatives promoted by public policies that ultimately fostered SI in Argentina: the food self-production ?Pro-Huerta? program and the policies of the National Technology and Social Innovation Program. And one complemented case-study of a bottom up SI in Brazil - the One Million Cisterns- which was later inserted into public policies in Brazil.Together, these cases will allow us to understand the potentialities and limitations of SI and the kind of relations they established with public policies. In particular, we will consider how public policies can foster and support SI but also what could be the broader role of the State regarding long term asymmetries of power that can affect the development of SI. Although we recognize differences between Latin American countries with dual economies and deeper social and economic challenges to those of developed countries, we hope to provide some insights on the importance of the role of State as catalyzer of systemic change in certain context, while at the same time reinforcing societal constraints in others.