Alternative Forms of Resilience in Times of Crisis

Abstract

The aim of this panel is to contribute to the study of collective responses to economic and political threats as they are reflected in alternative forms of economic and noneconomic activities by citizens confronting hard economic times and falling rights, especially since the global financial crisis of 2008. Expanding world-wide, collective responses to economic threats under neoliberal policies, tend to cover basic and urgent needs relate to food, shelter, health, childcare and education. Alternative collective actions and initiatives of resilience include: solidarity-based exchanges and networks, cooperative structures, barter clubs and networks, credit unions, ethical banks, time banks, alternative social currency, citizens’ self-help groups, presumption practices, social enterprises, and others. Related studies center on innovative practices (e.g. clubes de trueque) which sprang during the economic crisis in Argentina and other Latin America regions. Nevertheless, similar initiatives have developed in Europe before and after the crisis of 2008 – e.g. the SOL social currency Project in France; regional currencies support by NGOs in Germany aiming to support local economies; the flourishing of local currencies and barter networks in Greece and Spain; the alternative cashless production and exchange systems Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) in the UK; and, Ethical banks promoting ethical commitment, ideology and principles. These alternative practices attest to a new kind of politics through the creation of bottom-up participatory initiatives promoting a ‘solidarity economy’, as seen in countries confronting crises in the past. Papers addressing such alternative forms of resilience at a theoretical, comparative, or empirical level would be most suitable.