Journal of Co-operative Studies, 51(1), 39-42

Abstract

The international co-operative movement has prioritised supportive legal frameworks as a key constituent of co-operative growth (ICA, 2013). Unfortunately, there is not a robust literature on co-operative policy to help meet this need. Supportive legal frameworks for co-operatives are a “deeply under-researched area” (Adeler, 2014, p. 50). We recently conducted a review of the existing research and found that despite its dearth, the literature points to six primary forms of policy support that have been successfully deployed internationally to support co-operative growth: co-operative recognition, financing, sectoral financing, preferential taxation, supportive infrastructure, and preferential procurement. The most developed examples of these policies are found in areas of dense co‑operative concentration, or “co-op hot spots”: the Basque region of Spain, Emilia Romagna in Northern Italy, and Quebec, Canada. This article accounts for how these six policy forms appear in the co-operative dense regions. The aim of this analysis is to facilitate further research in the understudied area of co-operative policy, and to clarify policy successes for organisers in the co-operative movement interested in emulating them.

References

_{Adeler, M. (2014). Enabling policy environments for co-operative development: A comparative experience. Canadian Public Policy, 40(s1), 50–59. https://doi.org/10.3138/cpp.2011-062}

_{Corcoran, H., & Wilson, D. (2010). The worker co-operative movements in Italy, Mondragon, and France: Context, success factors and lessons. Canadian Worker Co-op Federation.  https://portailcoop.hec.ca/notice?id=h::6d17e7f4-53b0-4374-8f3e-3acaf497af36}

_{Develtere, P. (1996). Co-operatives and development: Towards a social movement perspective. Centre for the Study of Co-operatives, University of Saskatchewan.  https://usaskstudies.coop/documents/occasional-papers/}

_{Diamantopoulos, M. (2012). The developmental movement model: A contribution to the social movement approach to co-operative development. Journal of Co-operative Studies. 45(2), 42-56.}

_{Fairbairn, B. (2001). Social movements and co-operatives: Implications for history and development. Review of International Co-operation, 94, 24-34.}

_{Government of Quebec. (2003). Co-operative Development Policy. https://www.quebec.ca/en}

_{Labelle, L. (2001, Winter). Development of co-operatives and employee ownership, Quebec style. Owners at Work, XII, 14-17. https://www.oeockent.org/resources-events/owners-at-work-magazine-2}

_{Logue, J. (2006, Winter). Economics, co-operation, and employee ownership: The Emilia-Romagna model. Owners at Work, XVII, 4-9.  https://www.oeockent.org/resources-events/owners-at-work-magazine-2}

_{Mills, C. & Davies, W. (2013). Blueprint for a co-operative decade. International Co-operative Alliance. https://www.ica.coop/en/media/library/member-publication/blueprint-co-operative-decade-february-2013}

_{Restakis, J. (2010). Humanizing the economy: Co-operatives in the age of capital. New Society Publishers.}

_{Rowe, J., Peredo, A., Sullivan, M., Restakis, J. (2017). Co-operative development, policy and power in a period of contested neoliberalism: the case of Evergreen co-operative corporation in Cleveland, Ohio. Socialist Studies, 12(1), 54-77. https://doi.org/10.18740/S4M628}

_{Rowe, J., Peredo, A., Restakis, J. (2017, July 17). How the NDP and Greens can grow BC’s co-operative economy. The Tyee. https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2017/07/27/BC-NDP-Greens-Can-Grow-Co-op-Economy/}