Recently many authors have analyzed the links between the Buen Vivir (BV) and Degrowth (DG) paradigms (Escobar 2010, 2015, Thomson 2011, Unceta 2013, 2014, D’Alisa et al. 2015). They see many similarities between both proposals regarding: the critic of growth, the need for transition strategies, the re-conceptualization of wellbeing, new values, the commons, etc. But there are too some differences regarding: historic and cultural contexts, priorities of the transition strategies, institutionalization, current specific experiences, etc.

This paper explores the potentialities of the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) for building transitions valid for both paradigms. First, it further studies the commonalities and disparities between the two paradigms, BV and DG. Second, it acknowledges the diversity of the SSE trends and compares some distinctive lessons for BV and DG that emerge from experiences from Europe (in more depth from the Basque Country) and Latin America (Laville and García 2009, Coraggio 2011, Pérez de Mendiguren and Etxezarreta 2015). Third it briefly presents the new regulatory framework regarding the SSE and BV that has been built from 2008 onwards in Ecuador. Fourth, it analyzes the tensions that come from some incoherencies within this new regulatory framework and those tensions that arise from the limits of the neo-extractivist strategies that have been currently developed in the country (Acosta 2012, Villalba 2016). Finally, conclusions underline the fundamental criteria that could prevent transition strategies from the abovementioned tensions.

This media entry was a contribution to the special session „Potentialities of the Social and Solidarity Economy for Buen Vivir and Degrowth. “ at the 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest in 2016.