Organization

The current financial crisis has revealed structural problems as well as perturbations in the global financial and market systems. Within the context of crisis, there is great interest in experimentation with alternative organizational forms that can both respond to the challenges of today’s economy and restore equilibrium through a renewed emphasis on social values. In particular, worker ownership and governance are gaining attention in a variety of forms and regions. Worker-owned-and-governed cooperatives typically pursue both economic viability and strong forms of participation; further, they are closely tied to community economic and social development. Seeing these multiple objectives as intertwined and in fact necessary is central to the call for the 2012 United Nations’ International Year of the Cooperative, which seeks to highlight the contribution of cooperatives to social and economic development through generating employment, reducing poverty, and fostering social integration.