Solidarity Economy in Italy
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Author: Iside Tacchinardi Student number: 12759007 Supervisor Dr. ir. Y. P. B. (Yves) van Leynseele Second Reader Dr. D. L. (Dannis) Arnold Research Master’s International Development Studies Graduate School of Social Science University of Amsterdam 31 May, 2021 Acknowledgements To all the people who believe in change, who wake up and still act upon this world at their local and small-scale level. We need you. I met many inspiring and determined people in this journey through the solidarity economy in Italy. Thank you all. Even if we met in rather peculiar global circumstances, you still passed down to me your beautiful values and essence. There are many people that I wish to thank for accompanying me during this unexpected year. Thank you to my supervisor, Yves, for your sharp comments and ability to push me to improve my work. Thank you to Dario from Bologna University, for our meetings in Piazza Verdi and your availability to discuss my findings during fieldwork. Thank you, Dad, for always being incredibly good at making me laugh even on the gloomiest days. You have thought me how to be passionate about whatever I am doing, about life. I thank all my family, my grandmother, Giusi, for her unconditional love; Marina, for her endless acceptance; my young sisters Ella and Naima, for their cheerfulness, and for contributing to the cover of this thesis. Thank you to my dear friend Emma, for your sweetness, for always believing in me, and for the long hours studying together. To Yassine, for your love, support, and understanding. You have given me confidence and motivation also in the most stressful times. I sincerely thank you for that. To Enrico and Federico, for your kind words helping me to navigate the maze of life since we were small. To my one and only friend in Bologna, Francesco, thank you for making me feel at home in Bologna and giving me the chance to live with your sweet dog Django. Thank you to my Amsterdam friends and community, you were there to sustain me during my move back to Amsterdam, to Johnny, Tasha, Adam, Koen, Matteo, Michele, Anna, and Jaya. Thank you for our cooking, dancing, and talking. To my dear friends around the world, who are never too far away to give me strength, courage, and enthusiasm. Thank you for all our calls and for always checking up on me. Indeed, the people I would like to thank are endless as everyone I have met has given me something to treasure, contributing to my work and the person I have become. I get my resiliency, inspiration, and joy from all of you, young and old, every day. 3 Abstract Our food system urgently needs a change to address problems on both the production and the consumption side. Whilst agricultural land is degrading due to intensive industrial agriculture, consumers face obesity and malnutrition. Alternative food networks (AFNs) take up the challenge to produce, distribute, and consume food differently. These networks – comprising of solidarity purchasing groups, food cooperatives, and community sustained agriculture – are sustainable in environmental and social terms. Existing literature has addressed how AFNs can be mainstreamed by scaling out, up, and deep. Thus, this paper seeks to understand the scaling- up process; it unravels how these groups can reach institutional extension and influence policymaking. Creser (the Regional Coordination Network for the Solidarity Economy in Emilia-Romagna) is the case study of this investigation. It is a network that links AFNs and different solidarity economy organizations together. Applying naturalistic inquiry, this investigation draws its results from semi-structured interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. Firstly, findings show that networking and having leaders steering the movement’s actions and discourse are key scaling-up drivers. Although, Creser upscaling does not happen without constraints, namely: a lack of human resources and little knowledge- sharing at the network level. Hence, scaling-up unfolds as a slow and complex bottom-up practice. Secondly, the results highlight interesting alliance-building practices: democratic discussion methods (e.g., consensus method), community-based relations, and word-of-mouth communication. In conclusion, this paper argues that to influence policymaking AFNs should create trans-local allices (e.g., join a solidarity economy network), have key leaders, and maintain their autonomous and democratic organizational form. Keywords: Scaling-up, Scaling, Alternative Food Networks, Solidarity Economy, Alliance- making. 4 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3 ABSTRACT 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS 5 LIST OF FIGURES 8 LIST OF TABLES 8 LIST OF TEXTBOXES 8 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 10 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK 13 2.1. EMERGENCE OF THE SOLIDARITY ECONOMY 13 2.2. SOLIDARITY ECONOMY: A GENERAL DEFINITION 14 2.3. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SOLIDARITY ECONOMY 14 2.4. ALTERNATIVE FOOD NETWORKS 17 2.5. TRANSLOCALITY AND SCALING 18 2.6. SCALING OUT, UP, AND DEEP 19 2.7. CONCEPTUALIZING ALLIANCE-BUILDING 20 Organizational Form 20 Common Discourse 21 2.8. CONDITIONS & STRATEGIES FOR SCALING-UP 22 Capacity Building 22 Network Building 23 Socio-political context 23 Presence of Key Actors 24 2.9. CONCEPTUAL MODEL 25 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN & METHODS 26 3.1. RESEARCH QUESTIONS 26 3.2. OPERATIONALIZATION TABLE 27 3.3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 30 3.4. DATA COLLECTION & ANALYSIS 31 a. Units of observation and units of analysis 31 b. Sampling methods 38 c. Data Collection and Analysis 38 3.5. QUALITY CRITERIA 39 5 3.6. ETHICS AND POSITIONALITY 40 CHAPTER 4: CRESER, TRACING ITS ORIGINS & CURRENT FORM 42 4.1. INTRODUCTION 42 4.2. THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN ITALY 42 4.3. THE ITALIAN AGRICULTURAL POLICY 43 4.4. THE EMERGENCE OF AFNS IN ITALY 44 4.5. EMILIA-ROMAGNA: STRONG FOOD & COOPERATIVE TRADITION 45 4.6. HISTORY OF CRESER & THE SOLIDARITY ECONOMY LAW 47 Law-making Process: how did It all start? 47 Two Parallel Journeys: solidarity economy assemblies & institutional dialogue 50 Creser: how was it born and structured? 51 The Law Formulation 54 4.6. THE INSTITUTIONAL ORGANIZATIONAL FORM 55 Solidarity Economy Forum 55 Thematic Working Groups (GLTs) 56 Permanent Roundtables 56 Solidarity Economy Observatory 56 4.6. CONCLUSION 56 CHAPTER 5: FACTORS ENABLING AND CONSTRAINING THE SCALING-UP 58 5.1. A PROGRESSIVE REGION WITH CONSTRAINING REGULATIONS 58 5.2. LEADERS, INSTITUTIONAL ENTREPRENEURS, & INSTITUTIONAL ACTORS 61 5.3. KNOWLEDGE-SHARING & CO-CREATION 64 Knowledge-sharing with peripheral organizations 66 “We are not very well prepared when it comes to communication” 67 5.4. NETWORK-BUILDING 68 Vision for change 69 Networking 69 Working on the ground (‘lavoro sui territori’) 70 On-the ground-work strategies 71 5.5. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 72 CHAPTER 6: SCALING-UP STRATEGIES & CHALLENGES 74 6.1. CRESER UPSCALING DIFFICULTIES 74 Creser and the institutional bodies: a complex relationship 74 Different decision-making methods & intentions 75 Difficult dialogue: bureaucracy & professionalism 76 Institutional turn-over 77 6.2. SCALING-UP STRATEGIES 78 The Solidarity Economy Forum and the 19/2014 Law 78 6 Practical strategies: bring examples and be well prepared! 79 6.3. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 80 CHAPTER 7: CRESER ALLIANCE-BUILDING 82 7.1. ORGANIZATIONAL FORM 82 Community-based relations 83 Creser Formalization: risk of bureaucratic relations 84 7.2. DECISION-MAKING METHOD 86 Democratic relations: enriching but slow consensus method 86 7.3. ALLIANCE-BUILDING DIFFICULTIES 88 7.4. ALLIANCE BUILDING STRATEGIES 90 7.5. COMMON DISCOURSE 92 Why do people join Creser? What is their mission? 92 7.6. CHAPTER CONCLUSION 95 CHAPTER 8: CONCLUSION 97 BIBLIOGRAPHY 101 APPENDIX 108 INTERVIEW GUIDELINES (IN THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE, ITALIAN) 108 INTERVIEW GUIDELINES TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH 109 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS 109 7 List of Figures FIGURE 1: CONCEPTUAL MODEL. ................................................................................................................. 25 FIGURE 2: RESEARCH DESIGN VISUAL MODEL (ADAPTED FROM INVANKOVA ET AL., 2006). .... 31 FIGURE 3: CAMPI APERTI FARMERS MARKET IN BOLOGNA, ITALY. RETRIEVED ON MAY 5, 2021, FROM: HTTPS://WWW.CONSIDEROVALORE.IT/MERCATI-CONTADINI-BOLOGNA/ ............... 46 FIGURE 4: TIMELINE SHOWING THE SOLIDARITY ECONOMY LAW-MAKING PROCESS. .............. 50 FIGURE 5: THE PICTURE WAS TAKEN AT A MONTHLY CRESER ASSEMBLY ON THE 17TH OF OCTOBER 2020. SOURCE: AUTHOR. .................................................................................................... 52 FIGURE 6: VISUALIZING THE ORGANIZATIONAL FORM AND THE LAYERS OF REPRESENTATION. ................................................................................................................................. 55 List of Tables TABLE 1: OPERATIONALIZATION TABLE. 27 TABLE 2: BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SOLIDARITY ECONOMY GROUPS PARTAKING IN THIS RESEARCH (UNITS OF OBSERVATION). 37 TABLE 3: LIST OF PARTICIPANTS INDICATING THE INTERVIEW NUMBER (USED IN THE THESIS), DATE, LOCATION, AND THE INTERVIEWEES’ GENDER, PSEUDONYM, AND ORGANIZATION NAME. 109 List of Textboxes TEXTBOX 1: LEADER FIGURE EXAMPLE. ________________________________________________ 62 TEXTBOX 2: CHIEF FIGURE EXAMPLE. ___________________________________________________ 64 TEXTBOX 3: CRESER TYPICAL MEETING. ________________________________________________ 85 TEXTBOX 4: EXAMPLE OF CRESER MEMBERS DIFFERENT POSITIONS. _____________________ 90 8 “Today we are faced with a challenge that calls for a shift in our thinking, so that humanity stops threatening its life-