Social enterprise as driver of deliberative policy: Community-based emancipatory forms of economic democracy on a Philippine small island communities

We look back on the development of deliberative policy analysis (DPA) two decades since it was popularized as an interpretive, non-traditional, and democratic approach to addressing public problems. DPA strategies tend to be messy and face an epistemological dilemma and practical instability. While the merits of the DPA as an approach have undeniably been successful in various applications, we see that the approach struggles to adapt to complexities and uncertainties in today’s world and, at the same time, co-evolve with the contemporary social-economic and political trends and developments. We argue that to make sense of DPA’s application on the grassroots levels, social enterprise initiatives as community-based emancipatory forms of grassroots politico-economic democracy are a vital driver to steering inclusive participation and stakeholders’ collaborations. This research then draws lessons and critical insights from what we have observed from Philippine small island communities.