Action alliances: making society’s challenges a source of creation, innovation and transformation

The relationship between the economy and the other spheres of society is changing radically, and along with it, expressions of solidarity and forms of engagement. Among these, alliances between heterogeneous actors (companies, NGOs and “social businesses”, government agencies, Internet actors, etc.) allow for greater fairness and effectiveness in addressing the major issues facing the world. By aggregating actors with different logics into a dynamic of co-creation, alliances open up new horizons for development. With the Clinton Global Initiative, Bill Clinton set out to encourage alliances to deliver altruistic actions in a way that would be both effective and measurable. The initiative seems to work well in the English-speaking world, but is having difficulty gaining momentum in Europe. And yet European actors are well equipped to engage in new alliances that could transform the world we live in, and have every interest in joining forces to do so. A number of European members of the Clinton Global Initiative have set up “The European Network” to get the ball rolling in Europe and give a European dimension to social commitment. This paper describes the specific features of alliances, before outlining the organization of the European action in relation to the Clinton Global Initiative.