Assembling social enterprise: How and why social movements become part of the state apparatus

This article explores how and why revolutionary social movements eventually become part of the state apparatus. Centring upon the case of the historical evolution of Scotland’s social enterprise ecosystem using the lens of assemblage thinking, we reframe the ecosystem as a shifting configuration of actors, values, organisations, and policies shaping desire for social change. Movement is traced from a nomadic, oppositional assemblage to a statist assemblage embedded in governmental inclusive growth agendas. We demonstrate how heterogeneous coalitions and policy instruments redefine what counts as social enterprise, with consequences for power, democratic accountability, and public value. The article advances public management scholarship by moving beyond ecosystem metaphors and by problematising a structural tension between the values of social movements: in our case autonomy and collective self-help, and democratic commitments to openness and inclusivity.