David Cameron's Big Society Part 1

Across the Atlantic, Britain is taking a gamble - a huge one - on social enterprise. Britain's prime minister David Cameron spent the summer setting forth his vision of a "Big Society". On July 19, the Economist notes that Cameron delivered his manifesto on the topic in Liverpool. The prime minister spoke about the need for a Big Society Bank to "help finance social enterprises, charities, and volunteer groups through intermediaries". Intermediaries function as financial middlemen: they are often financed by larger organizations in order to infuse capital into grassroots organizations with the potential to increase scale, innovation, and social impact.

The Cameron administration also argues that a governing emphasis on social enterprise will "open up public services to new providers like charities, social enterprises, and private companies so we get more innovation, diversity, and responsiveness to public need". Cameron's compelling vision raises hope, as well as questions. First, do charities, social enterprises, and private companies currently have the operating capacity and incentive to meet the needs of citizens? Who else, we might further inquire, will be delivering the "public services" that Mr. Cameron believes will meet the public need? Cameron's Big Society intends to engage "citizen volunteers" in taking on the state's work. From the Obama administration's White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation to Cameron's bold entry into social enterprise, the supply of lofty promises and grant funds exceeds the supply - or perhaps the quality - of plans to develop the administrative and legal structures needed for social enterprise(s) to grow in size and operating capacity.

The theoretical question, then, is a systems one. What is the relationship of social enterprise(s) to the state? Is it possible for a massive mobilization of "citizen volunteers" to take on the work of the state in service delivery? Another question might also be raised: what does it look like in practice for committed citizens to execute tasks previously reserved for civil servants? Operationally, the Big Society is being implemented in at least three areas: "handing power to parents to run schools, to general practitioners to run the NHS (Britain's health system), and to local voters to pick police commissioners." Cameron and his administration deserve credit for attempting to institutionalize social enterprise. Does his administration also deserve credit for building a "Big Society" where social enterprise flourishes and public need is alleviated in measurable, sustainable and innovative ways? Time - as well as statistics and voters - will tell.

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Photo Credit: Andy McSmith