Introduction

This chapter presents the objectives of the International Comparative Social Enterprise Models (ICSEM) Project. It describes the Latin American context that shapes the SE landscape, before describing the main concepts used in Latin America to analyse this kind of initiative. The ICSEM Project was based on the assumption that a solid and scientific comparative knowledge of SE worldwide implied to analyse the organisations through a multilevel approach, combining the micro, macro and meso levels, and relying on empirical studies using a common methodological approach and common tools. Social, economic and political differences between countries in Latin America are significant. Although a significant share of workers in the region work outside formal capital-labour relation, a model of social protection based on employment dominates. The great challenge in Latin America is the strengthening of both formal democracy and substantive democracy. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.