Social Enterprise, Capabilities and Development Paradigms: Lessons from Ecuador

Recently, social movements in Latin America have affirmed the ‘buen vivir’ development paradigm that pursues the social and solidarity economy model in reaction to mainstream development strategies. In this paper we explore the features of the social economy that has emerged from the social movement resistance in Ecuador. We have two aims. First, to contribute to the comparative analysis of the varying patterns in the evolution of social enterprise around the world. Second, to provide general theoretical insights into the ways in which the social economy relates to the contemporary debate on alternative development paradigms.