SOCIAL ECONOMY AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISES IN SLOVAKIA

The article provides an introduction into the evolution and different manifestations and understanding of the social economy concept in Europe and in particular in Slovakia as a post-communist country. It describes the discourse on social economy in Slovakia and draws attention to its insufficient intensity. The article presents key social actors that play a role in the social economy area in Slovakia and describes their attitudes and key characteristics. The article explores the continuities and discontinuities of the concept of social economy in Slovak history and provides an account of relevant traditions that potentially inform the field today, but which are disconnected from the efforts of reviving the social entrepreneurship in today's Slovakia. Particularly, the article looks at the cooperative movement and explains its nature and influences of the communist period that contribute towards the disconnection between the current cooperative movement and modern social economy. The article provides an insight into the current situation in Slovakia through a description of the clientelistic system of relations that influenced the way how social economy and entrepreneurship is perceived in Slovakia. This case serves as a background for description of legal environment for social enterprises. In the last part the authors discuss the critique of current situation and present opportunities and limitations of its further development of the social economy concept in Slovakia including the potential represented in the third sector.