Co Operation And Co Operatives In 21st Century Europe

This volume explores where, how and why the cooperative model is having a distinctive, transformational impact in driving socio-economic changes in a post-pandemic 21st century world. Drawing from a diverse range of examples, the book sheds light on how today’s cooperatives and a co-operative way of organising might serve new societal demands. It examines organisational structures and governance models that develop socio-economic resilience in cooperatives. The book’s contributors reveal how the very pursuit of cooperative values and principles challenges market fundamentalism and promotes participatory democracy. This is a timely contribution to recent debates around transformative economies and an invaluable resource for scholars and activists interested in alternative ways of organising.

This volume explores where, how and why the cooperative model is having a distinctive, transformational impact in driving socio-economic changes in a post-pandemic 21st century world. Drawing from a diverse range of examples, the book sheds light on how today’s cooperatives and a co-operative way of organising might serve new societal demands. It examines organisational structures and governance models that develop socio-economic resilience in cooperatives. The book’s contributors reveal how the very pursuit of cooperative values and principles challenges market fundamentalism and promotes participatory democracy. This is a timely contribution to recent debates around transformative economies and an invaluable resource for scholars and activists interested in alternative ways of organising.

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.

While co-operative ideas had been discussed in all the Nordic countries from at least the 1860s, it was not until the 1880s that the first permanent organizations appeared. Published to mark the UN International Year of the Co-operative in 2012, this groundbreaking volume examines the development of the co-operative movement in the Nordic countries and in eastern Europe. Co-operatives and the Social Question presents a unique comparative transnational perspective on the spread and development of co-operative ideas in these regions, as well as the links between them. The book offers a new perspective on late 19th- and early 20th-century debates on the social question, modernization, and the foundations of the welfare state. It is a wide-ranging history, ranging from the urban consumer co-operative societies of Sweden to the peasant organizations of Hungary and Galicia. The book not only provides an overview of the growth of co-operatives in those nations, but also traces the regional transnational spread of co-operative ideas and practices, as well as the importance of the moral and modernizing aims of co-operation. (Series: Scandinavia and the Baltic - Transnational and International Challenges) ***"After reading the book, one becomes more aware of the conflicts of interest, politics and ideology (or ideals) which have influenced both the emergence of early European co-operatives and their frequent affiliations to (or co-optation by) groups with differing political, nationalist, religious, economic and social aspirations....an important and delightful book..." - Nadia Johanisova, Journal of Co-operative Studies, Winter 2012

The fundamental question explored in the book concerns the meaning of co-operation. Was it a social movement or an economic enterprise? Did it aspire to challenge capitalism or to reform it? Did it contain at its heart a political vision for the transformation of society or was it simply a practical guide for organising a business?

Series on International Taxation #81 The tax landscape today looks dramatically different from how it appeared even a generation ago. Ongoing sweeping changes in information technologies, massive economic downturns, unforeseen catastrophes such as the global pandemic that hit the world in 2020, and ever more sophisticated methods of tax evasion and avoidance are only some of the factors that have perplexed and even confounded tax authorities. This important book provides a comprehensive overview of the global tax challenges confronting tax policy today, with insightful contributions by both well-known tax experts and fresh new voices in the field. The authors address such critical issues as the following: international tax reform initiatives; effects of climate change; tax justice in times of crisis; international tax cooperation; taxing multinationals; role of tax havens; participation and collaboration of developing countries; the growing presence of artificial intelligence and robots; prospects for a green economic recovery; and tax ethics and social inclusiveness. The contributions originated with the groundbreaking tax summit TaxCOOP2020, held online at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic in October 2020. At a time when tax policy seems poised at the dawn of a fundamental transformation, this inestimable volume will be welcomed by tax practitioners and academics, concerned government officials, businesspeople, international organizations, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), all of whom will here have access to a variety of points of view and innovative approaches to the future direction of taxation.