A Global History of Co-operative Business

Greg Patmore, Nikola Balnave

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Topic: Business
• eBook ISBN:
  9781317270201
• Subtopic: Business General
• Index: Business

Co-operatives provide a different approach to organizing business through their ideals of member ownership and democratic practice. Every co-operative member has an equal vote regardless of his or her own personal capital investment. The contemporary significance of co-operatives was highlighted by the United Nations declaration of 2012 as the International Year of Co-operatives.

This book provides an international perspective on the development of co-operatives since the mid-nineteenth century, exploring the economic, political, and social factors that explain their varying fortunes and transformation into different forms. By looking at what co-operatives are; how they have changed; the developments as well as the persecutions of the co-operative movement; and how it is an important force in promoting development and self-sufficiency in non-industrialized areas, this book provides valuable insight not only to academics, but also to practitioners and policy makers.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• A Global History of Co-Operative Business
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 What are Co-Operatives?
• 2 The Origins of the Idea and the Rochdale Pioneers, Before 1844
• 3 The Early Years of Rochdale, the Rise of Co-Operative Wholesaling, and Financial Co-Operatives, 1844–1864
• 4 Diversification, Internationalization, and the Formation of the International Co-Operative Alliance, 1864–1914
• 5 the Challenges of War, Depression, and Totalitarianism, 1914–1945
• 6 Postwar Prosperity, the Cold War, and Decolonialization, 1945–1975
• 7 Contrasts: Neo-Liberalism and the Un International Year of Co-Operatives From 1975 To the Present
• 8 Conclusion
• Index