Lecture
Keynote Lecture
S201—Prof. Tomaszewski Lecture Hall , 22 October, 12:00-13:30Power in Common: The Social Life of Local Democracy
Agenda
- Lecture: 60 minutes
- Q&A session: 30 minutes
Summary
One of the most relevant discussions in Social Innovation (SI) research and action today is the relationship between social innovation and socio-political transformation. In a forthcoming publication we write:
"The erosion of political life and the shortcomings of the contemporary – assumedly democratic – State apparatus are well known and have been widely documented. This malaise is generally attributed to the alleged or real incompetence of politicians and political elites, and their pursuit of self-interest, collusion with the business and financial world, faithfulness to narrow-minded hard science analysis, short-sightedness and, perhaps most of all, their lack of empathy with people committed to engaging with current ecological, social, and economic problems. In many ways, there is a widespread awareness that politics has moved away from the concerns and anxieties expressed by a growing number of people and have led to elite politics" (Moulaert et al. 2026, Chapter 8).
In this talk I will examine to what extent SI practice volunteers a remedy to the erosion of political life. The insights I will share are based on the analysis of the interactions between grassroots organizations and local authorities, and how these have led to the co-production of what we call bottom-linked governance in which SI initiatives and local administrations cooperate to address local challenges such as food security and housing. The results of such cooperation depends on a number of social, cultural and political conditions, which I will briefly address.
Reference
Frank Moulaert, Diana MacCallum, Abid Mehmood, Constanza Parra, Pieter Van den Broeck, Juan-Luis Klein, Liana Simmons and Michael Kaethler, Eds. (2027). International Handbook on Social Innovation, 2nd Edition. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Keynote Speakers
