This paper explores the political strategy of the European node of the Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social Solidarity Economy (RIPESS-Europe) as an actor in the European policy arena. It traces and analyses the network’s attempts in mobilising, lobbying and communicating SSE claims vis-à-vis incumbent policy institutions at the European Union level, with the aim to foster a more favorable institutional environment for their initiatives to promote regional regenerative development. In particular, it investigates the role of institutional communication, relationship building, and policy advocacy. The analysis is based on qualitative data, collected through archival research and document analysis, interviews with key actors, network-wide surveys, participant observation at meetings and events. Founded in 1997, RIPESS-Europe forms an international platform for SSE initiatives, to exchange know-how and support among its members, and as a common political voice to represent the interests of its members in the public and policy sphere. As collective actions aiming to promote a ‘regenerative culture’ based on post-capitalist principles, ‘social solidarity economy’ (SSE) initiatives are part of emerging local and regional movements aiming to organise community-based economic projects through mutual recognition and support (Esteves 2021). A central common feature among this wide range of activities is their prioritisation of addressing social needs over mere financial profitability (Utting 2015). As such, SSE challenges conventional capitalist modes of provisioning and experiments with radical alternatives on the ground. Examples of SSE initiatives include community-based currencies, production and consumption cooperatives, and social enterprises (Kalogeraki et al. 2018). As a theoretical framework, the paper uses the heterodox economic perspective of ‘social provisioning processes’ (SPP) (Jo and Todorova 2017; Gruchy 1987; Dugger 1996; Jo 2011; Lee 2008; Power 2004). The SPP framework proposes to study the economy as the social process of the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services with the aim to meet the needs of those participating in it (Gruchy 1987). These processes are inherently social and political and are deeply shaped by contested power relations. Furthermore, SPP is based on the assumption that both structures and (social) agency shape the form of provisioning processes and their social and ecological outcomes (Jo 2011). The structural basis, consisting of material and non-material features, concurrently enables and constrains a space within which (social) agency can take place. In this paper, the SPP framework is used to analyse the (counter-hegemonic) practices of SSE as inherently political, organising in a network (RIPESS) to mobilise their social agency with the aim to create a structural basis that is more favourable for their alternative modes of provisioning.

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• Political Science - Social Sciences