Economic democracy and economic citizenship
Economic citizenship recognises that everyone - and not just experts and business managers - has got:
- a "power to act economically" (to produce, exchange and consume), based on motives other than profit (civic commitment, reciprocal impetus), based on forms of exchange other than monetary exchange and competition, founded on the recognition of everyone's abilities and skills and in SSE initiatives, on democratic and participatory governance;
that leads to
- a political project for democratising the economy that questions all socio-economic practices in all spheres of society: from business to retailing, but also the family and the gendered distribution of care. From this perspective, it presupposes that users, consumers, employees and taxpayers claim a right to information and decision-making power over the arbitration and allocation of resources that concern them, which goes hand in hand with the collective construction of citizen proposals on economic, societal and ecological transition issues.[1]
Main networks working on this issue
In France, the Mouvement pour l'Economie Solidaire (MES) has launched in 2021: the Manifesto for a citizenship that favours economic democracy " (le Manifeste pour une citoyenneté favorisant la démocratie économique).
Economic citizenship around the world
In France, according to Bérénice Dondeyne from MES Occitanie, economic citizenship should be part of a process of fundamental rights: "Economic democracy is the most complete and central expression of this, and should be seen as consubstantial with fundamental human and cultural rights. It must confirm that citizens have the power to act and can imagine and co-determine the economy that concerns them" [2].
Links
With socioeco.org
Matching Socioeco.org thematic keyword
With Ripess NL articles or position papers
Examples:
- In preparation for the event “Social Economy, the future of Europe” – Strasbourg, May 2022: MES France contribution, Article from the RIPESS Europe newsletter - Bérénice DONDEYNE,, March 2022