Cooperatives and Local Development: Theory and Applications for the 21st Century

Merrett, Christopher D.; Walzer, Norman

doi:10.4324/9781315290294

Cited by 12 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Some of the interest in cooperatives today forms part of the larger discourse around the “community economy” or “solidarity economy” rubrics that include a variety of democratic development practices (Loh and Shear 2015; Roelvink, St. Martin, and Gibson-Graham 2015). There have been attempts to understand the relationship between cooperatives and community economic development, yet much of this work is either theoretical or grounded in rural practice (Fairbairn et al 1991; Merrett and Walzer 2004). Our current study thus extends the existing research by exploring the opportunities and challenges of cooperatives on urban NCCs.…”

Section: Cooperatives and Collective Action In Nccsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grocery Cooperatives as Governing Institutions in Neighborhood Commercial Corridors

Zitcer

Dilworth

2017

Urban Affairs Review

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We explore cooperatives’ potential to play governing roles in neighborhood commercial corridors (NCCs) by examining one grocery cooperative in Philadelphia that has had stores on three NCCs in the city. We distinguish between an anchor institution role, where one organization provides collective goods for the corridor, and governance, where multiple corridor stakeholders collectively provide goods. We conclude that a cooperative will more likely play a governance role if it enters an NCC at a point when there are no other potential corridor-governing organizations, and when the NCC itself is at an early stage of development or redevelopment. What this suggests more generally about NCCs is that the organizations present at their founding or at a critical juncture have a large impact on their future developmental trajectories. We argue further that a cooperative is more likely to play a governance role when it was created by neighborhood stakeholders and it thus reflects the distinct social norms of the neighborhood.

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Section: Cooperatives and Collective Action In Nccsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grocery Cooperatives as Governing Institutions in Neighborhood Commercial Corridors

Zitcer

Dilworth

2017

Urban Affairs Review

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“…Success rates and effectiveness are often lower among rural cooperatives in some contexts, and past research has documented various problems affecting such cooperatives. Some more prominent problems reported in extant literature concern the lower competitiveness (Merrett and Waltzer, 2004) of these types of organisation and the instability from which some rural cooperatives suffer (Valentinov, 2007). Progress of rural cooperatives may also be hindered by farmers' conservatism (O'Rourke, 2007).…”

Section: Rural Cooperativesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating difficulties and failure in early-stage rural cooperatives through a social capital lens

Kasabov

2016

European Urban and Regional Studies

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Rural cooperatives are assumed to contribute to economic development, regeneration, service delivery and local democracy. This paper examines the problems of setting up early-stage rural cooperatives, the difficulties experienced by them, and antecedents of their failure by complementing extant research with an empirical study of existing and recently failed early-stage Welsh cooperatives. Factors inhibiting early-stage rural cooperative growth and survival encompass various aspects of negative and antithetical social capital, exacerbated by management and marketing weaknesses, as well as regional and national institutional conditions. Such factors are relevant to theory development, cooperative management practice and public sector policy, and are theorised from rural cooperation, social capital and rural development perspectives.

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“…Participants were asked to consider a number of energy project configurations that offer strong citizen participation potential, while also addressing issues around energy justice [33]. Through a series of in-depth, iterative engagements, variations of the cooperative business model were considered appropriate in a majority of the configurations given the transformative potential cooperatives have for revitalising rural and urban communities [34]. The long history of the cooperative movement demonstrates a proven track record in helping local communities access the start-up capital needed to establish new businesses, create jobs, and more evenly distribute associated revenue to those most responsible for generating it.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community acceptability and the energy transition: a citizens’ perspective

2019

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Background: Every energy transition has had its winners and its losers, both economically and in terms of social justice and community cohesion. The current transition is no different given the complex, intersecting matrices of power and experience that influence the key stakeholders and actors involved. Local oppositions to the deployment of renewable energy technologies have been significantly higher than expected. In numerous instances, these oppositions have been in reaction to the disempowerment of local rights and entitlements associated with specific developments. Consequently, there is a clear need for governance structures and organisational formats that are participatory, inclusive and mindful of the lived experiences of local people. Despite the knowledge gaps and financial constraints that continue to persist, how can local communities become empowered to drive project development and meaningfully engage in the low-carbon energy transition? Methods: This paper presents a methodology for investigating citizen perceptions of the energy transition and the kinds of roles they see themselves having in its implementation. Working with six communities across five European countries (France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the UK), we conducted a series of iterative cross-sectional community engagements using a mixed methods approach. In addition, a number of innovative participatory action research tools were incorporated to engage citizens in co-designing their own energy transition pathways. Results: Participants expressed having restricted agency as citizens participating in the energy system. They also felt locked in to a limiting set of false choices as 'energy consumers' that do not translate into real or meaningful power, despite popular narratives to the contrary. The research also resulted in a co-designed characterisation tool to help local communities assess the energy democracy and citizen participation potential of a number of participatory business models. Conclusions: Citizens remain locked out of the decision-making processes of the energy transition. We outline a more integrated approach, using co-design and participatory action research, to incorporate citizen perspectives into the planning and implementation of more appropriate business configurations. This paper presents demonstrable examples of how extended stakeholder perspectives can improve procedural justice outcomes and ensure the rollout of more equitable energy configurations into the future.

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Cooperatives and Local Development: Theory and Applications for the 21st Century

Cited by 12 publications

References 0 publications

Grocery Cooperatives as Governing Institutions in Neighborhood Commercial Corridors

Grocery Cooperatives as Governing Institutions in Neighborhood Commercial Corridors

Investigating difficulties and failure in early-stage rural cooperatives through a social capital lens

Community acceptability and the energy transition: a citizens’ perspective

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