The Pacific Alliance Blog chatted with Ulf Thoene and Roberto Garcia Alonso about their original and interesting article on Social Entrepreneurship in the Pacific Alliance and the factors that could facilitate this type of entrepreneurship.*

Ulf is a lecturer and researcher at Universidad de La Sabana in Bogota, Colombia. He holds a PhD and a Master of Laws (LLM) from the University of Warwick; a Graduate Diploma in Economics from the University of Nottingham; and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History from the University of Sheffield. His research interests are business ethics; informal employment; and regional integration. He has previous experience in socio-legal research and competition policy in regional contexts.

Roberto is a lecturer and researcher at Universidad de La Sabana in Bogota, Colombia. He holds a PhD in Political Science and Public Administration and a MA in Democracy and Government from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid; a BA in Law and a BA in Political Science and Public Administration from the same university. His research interests are international relations.

How did you become interested in the topic of Social Entrepreneurship, particularly in the Pacific Alliance?

Social Entrepreneurship has become an effective alternative to address social issues worldwide through innovation as a means of creating sustainable social value. It enables empowering people to take ownership of their development; hence, requiring enhanced capacity-building efforts. As a result, Regional integration has become an effective development strategy as it fosters joint capacity building actions between countries to reduce inequality gaps. Specifically, the Pacific Alliance, recognising the region’s relative backwardness and potential in Social Entrepreneurship, devotes significant spaces and actions to entrepreneurship and innovation.

What opportunities do you see for Social Entrepreneurship in the regional context of the Pacific Alliance? Is it feasible to see regional Social Entrepreneurship growing in the medium-term?

Although the region exhibits dissimilar development paths, the PA’s interdependent regionalism offers flexibility and legitimacy in its decision-making, evaluation, discussion, and approval processes. The PA promotes cooperation, economic growth, consensus, and participation as a means to overcome inequality.

This backdrop offers meaningful possibilities for Social Entrepreneurship (SE) as a bottom-up strategy embedded within the PA’s framework. SE combines diverse actors, including local organisations, NGOs, governmental institutions, and the private sector, while promoting cooperation systems. This environment creates a unique opportunity for social innovation based on actor’s common objectives and experiences. This is especially true for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which contribute to job creation and economic growth.

SE can be extrapolated to all the region and adjusted to each country’s specific characteristics thanks to its local foundations and PA’s common cooperation goals. Under the current pandemic context, we will likely see a growing digital-based, and innovative SE as entrepreneurs find new ways to create businesses seeking to safely reach consumers while generating social change, sustainability, and growth through inclusiveness, environmental protection, and income generation.

To what extent are Social Entrepreneurship and sustainable development connected?

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Abstract:
The Pacific Alliance (PA) is the most recent attempt of economic regional integration in Latin America. This research article analyses the PA from a constructivist theoretical perspective establishing a relationship between the identities of the founding states of the integration process and the definition of its institutional structure.

This research hence reviews the integration mechanism of the Alliance from a political perspective as well as from the main approaches to integration prevalent in the region. It is argued that this initiative was designed in order to defend state national interests and react to an aspiration of regional leadership. This explains the adoption of a model of strategic cooperation seeking to strengthen the relationships with powers outside the region and to reduce the dependence on the hegemonic regional power.

Resumen:
Este artículo presenta una caracterización del más reciente intento de integración económica regional en América Latina, la Alianza del Pacífico, a partir de un enfoque constructivista que establece una relación entre los rasgos identitarios de los Estados fundadores del proceso y la definición de su estructura institucional.

Con tal finalidad, se hace una revisión del mecanismo tanto desde una perspectiva política como desde los principales enfoques sobre integración en la región. El documento concluye que esta iniciativa fue diseñada para defender los intereses nacionales y responder a una pretensión de liderazgo regional, lo cual explica la adopción de un modelo de cooperación estratégica para el fortalecimiento de las relaciones con potencias extrarregionales y la reducción de la dependencia frente a la potencia hegemónica regional.

Authors: Ulf Thoene, Edgard Junior Cuestas Zamora and María Carmelina Londoño
Spanish Title: La Alianza del Pacífico y el Regionalismo Latinoamericano: En Búsqueda de una Revitalización Autonomista de la Integración
Full document: 2017,Thoene et al, La Alianza del Pacífico y el Regionalismo Latinoamericano

Abstract:
There has been a growing interest in social entrepreneurship in recent years, even though there is some confusion or controversy about its meaning. Most of the literature recognises the importance of the articulation of various factors within a favourable ecosystem. Despite this, there are still very few studies related to this subject in Latin America. That is why this article establishes links to the importance of the Pacific Alliance as a regional integration space to promote such initiatives. Based on the analysis of official documents and interviews with decision-makers, factors were identified that, within the Pacific Alliance framework, facilitate the consolidation of social entrepreneurship processes.

Resumen:
En los últimos años ha habido un creciente interés por el emprendimiento social aun cuando existe cierta confusión o controversia sobre su significado. La mayoría de la literatura reconoce la importancia de la articulación de diversos factores dentro de un ecosistema favorable. Pese a esto, aún son muy escasos los estudios relativos a esta materia en el ámbito latinoamericano. Es por ello por lo que este artículo vincula la importancia de la Alianza del Pacifico, como espacio de integración regional para la promoción de este tipo de iniciativas. A partir del análisis de sus documentos oficiales y de entrevistas a responsables de toma de decisiones se identificaron factores que dentro del marco de la Alianza del Pacífico facilitan la consolidación de procesos de emprendimiento social.

Authors: Roberto García Alonso, Ulf Thoene, Ana María Figueroa & Edwin Murillo Amaris
Spanish Title: El Emprendimiento Social en el marco de la Alianza del Pacífico
Full Document: 2020, García Alonso, et al, El Emprendimiento Socian en el marco de la Alianza del Pacífico

Abstract:
This paper analyses critically the integration model proposed by the Pacific Alliance (PA) from the perspective of the legal foundations of Colombia’s foreign policy, in order to determine the degree of normative convergence between the Colombian constitutional order and this particular trade agreement.

This research uses legal technique and case-law analysis as research methodologies, offering a detailed panorama of the normative development of the PA and its relationship with the constitutional requirements regulating the international relations of Colombia.

The paper argues that despite being at an initial stage in relation to its normative and institutional structure, the PA has emerged as a second-generation regional trade agreement (RTA), which complements its commercial trajectory with political, social and productive integration agendas, promoting the diversification of international economic relations of its members without altering or modifying their sovereign powers. The above allows showing its compatibility with the constitutional mandate pro integratione, particularly in regard to the idea of promoting the internationalisation of Colombian economic relations with countries of Latin America and other world regions.

Resumen:
Este artículo examina críticamente el modelo de integración propuesto por la Alianza del Pacífico (AP) desde la perspectiva de los fundamentos jurídicos de la política exterior colombiana, con el objetivo de determinar el grado de convergencia normativa existente entre el ordenamiento constitucional colombiano y este instrumento comercial.

La investigación se desarrolla utilizando la técnica jurídica y el análisis jurisprudencial como metodologías de investigación, y se ofrece un panorama detallado sobre el desarrollo normativo de la AP y su relación con los preceptos constitucionales que regulan las relaciones internacionales de Colombia.

El artículo concluye que pese a encontrarse en una etapa inicial con relación a su estructura normativa e institucional, la AP se perfila como un acuerdo comercial regional (ACR) de segunda generación que complementa su vocación comercial con agendas de integración política, social y productiva, estimulando la diversificación de las relaciones económicas internacionales de sus miembros sin alterar o modificar sus competencias soberanas. Lo anterior permite constatar su compatibilidad con el mandato constitucional pro integratione, particularmente con respecto al ideal de promover la internacionalización de las relaciones económicas de Colombia con países de la región y de otras latitudes.

Authors: Edgard Cuestas Zamora & Ulf Thoene
Spanish Title: La Alianza del Pacífico como acuerdo comercial regional: análisis desde un enfoque ius internacionalista
Full Document: 2020, Cuestas & Thoene, La Alianza del Pacífico como acuerdo comercial regional – análisis desde un enfoque ius internacionalista