Call for Papers

‘Social Enterprise in Post-Communist Societies’: a Special Issue of East European Politics
Social enterprises are said to exist to serve social interests, rather than the maximisation of profits for
private gain. Interest in social enterprise has expanded exponentially in recent decades. The European
Commission has an explicitly aim to contribute to the creation of a favourable environment for the
development of social enterprise activity in Europe and for the social economy at large. Through
providing employment opportunities and activities aimed at society’s most vulnerable people, the
promotion of social enterprise has been considered an attractive option to policymakers, on the left
and right alike, as a means to enhance social cohesion, promote solidarity and economic democracy,
and reduce inequalities. However, there is no fixed understanding of social enterprise: this varies
considerably across time, space, place, culture, and political, legal and institutional context (Defourny
and Nyssens, 2010; Kerlin, 2013).

The ongoing work of major initiatives such as the ICSEM (International Comparative Social Enterprise
Models) project has provided a renewed impetus and heightened scholarly interest in understanding
the multiplicity of forms and dynamism of social enterprise practices found throughout the world.
Given the specific social challenges – and opportunities – facing post-communist societies, particularly
in the context of pressure from global economic, and transnational political forces – not least from the
EU – the aim of this Special Issue is to better understand the patterns of development of social
enterprise activity in the various countries comprising the ‘post-communist region’ of Europe, and the
drivers shaping these patterns. In what ways does the legacy of socialism, for example, influence how
social enterprise is conceptualised or understood by practitioners, or policymakers? What are the
consequences of the re-emergence of various forms of social enterprise (Galera, 2009) that were
seemingly emblematic of earlier times? Does ongoing political context help or hinder enabling
environments for social enterprise?

Full papers exploring such questions, and a range of others under this broad theme, are welcome, and
should be submitted, in the first instance, to the guest editors Michael Roy ([log in to unmask]),
Giulia Galera ([log in to unmask]) and Jacques Defourny ([log in to unmask]) by 31 December
2016. Only after feedback from the guest editors should the papers be submitted to the journal. They
should not be uploaded to the journal’s site at this stage.

Guidelines for submissions may be found at:
http://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?journalCode=fjcs20&page=instructions#mp_
general.

Please note that identifying information for all authors are required on the cover page, but must be
removed from all other pages. The cover page must specify too that the submission is to be considered
for the Special Issue ‘Social Enterprise in Post-Communist Societies’.

References
Defourny J and Nyssens M (2010) Conceptions of Social Enterprise and Social Entrepreneurship in
Europe and the United States: Convergences and Divergences. Journal of Social
Entrepreneurship 1(1): 32–53.

Galera G (2009) The ‘Re-emergence’ of Social Enterprises in the CEE and CIS. In: Destefanis S and
Musella M (eds), Paid and unpaid labour in the social economy, AIEL Series in Labour
Economics, Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag, pp. 245–260.

Kerlin JA (2013) Defining Social Enterprise Across Different Contexts: A Conceptual Framework Based
on Institutional Factors. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly 42(1): 84–108.