Co-operation and Co-operatives in 21st-Century Europe

"The future is here! One day, the idea of employing someone – paying someone a wage in exchange for their submission to a boss’s authority – will surely come to be seen as obscene, almost as obscene as slavery, buying someone outright. Wage-slavery will surely be replaced by cooperative ownership as the standard form of organization. This volume offers inspiring portraits of real organizations today that are based on the cooperative principle. The chapters also offer deep insights into the difficulties of generalizing this principle under capitalist conditions, and the importance of public policies at the local as well as national levels in creating space for this future to emerge." Paul S. Adler, University of South California

Julian Manley is Professor of Social Innovation at the University of Central Lancashire.

Olga Kuznetsova is Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Place Management at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Tony Webster is Professor of Business History at Northumbria University.

1. Introduction: European Co-operativism in a Changing World - Julian Manley, Anthony Webster and Olga Kuznetsova

Part 1: Seeds: Identifying the Space for Co-operatives in Addressing Social Challenges

2. Star and Shadow Cinema: A Grassroots Interface between DIY Culture, New Co-operativism and the Commons - Christo Wallers

3. Beyond Green-washing: Sustainable Development and Environmental Accountability through Co-operators’ Eyes (a French Perspective) - François Deblangy

4. Exploring the Role of Worker Co-operatives in the Co-creation of Meaningful Work - Kiri Langmead and Anthony Webster

5. The Promise and Perils of Corporate Governance-by-Design in Blockchain-Based Collectives: The Case of dOrg - Morshed Mannan

6. ‘Our Club, Our Community, Our Future’: Co-operation, Deindustrialization and Motherwell Football Club’s Journey to Community Ownership - David Stewart

Part 2: Bridges: Co-operative Culture and Education

7. Co-operation for Asset-Based Community Development: The Example of the Community Explorers Project at Leicester Vaughan College - Malcolm Noble

8. Engaging Universities in Capacity Building for a Co-operative Economy - Andrei Kuznetsov and Olga Kuznetsova

Part 3: Growth: The Preston Model, Co-operation and Community Wealth Building

9. The Strange Death of Co-operative Britain? Comparing the Development of British Co-operation with Wider European Trends and Emerging Strategies for a 21st-Century Revival - Anthony Webster

10. How Far Can the Co-operative Character Extend? The Sense of Co-operation and Co-operative Councils - Julian Manley and Temidayo Eseonu

11. Community Wealth Building in Preston: Successes and Challenges of Co-operation in Action - Ioannis Prinos

12. ‘Can a Leopard Change Its Spots?’ How the Established Model of the Mondragon Co-operatives Struggles to Adapt to a Changing World - Julian Manley

13. Possibilities and Challenges of the ‘Sorachi Model’: Learning from Preston’s Attempts to Rebuild the Region - Hiroshi Sakai

14. Conclusion: Clues to a Co-operative Future? Julian Manley, Olga Kuznetsova and Anthony Webster