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No. 5

Published December 22 2023

Full Issue

Articles

  1. Aneta Suchoń (Author)

    TENDENCIES AND DIRECTIONS OF DEVELOPMENT OF COOPERATIVE LAW AND COOPERATIVES IN POLAND, ESPECIALLY AGRICULTURAL AND FOOD, HOUSING AND BANK COOPERATIVES

    Cooperatives are important entities in the economic, social and cultural spheres in Poland. They are of a diversified nature -from large dairy cooperatives, through medium-sized cooperative banks, or housing cooperatives, to small social cooperatives. In Poland, there are currently over 9,500 cooperatives2. There is a large number of housing cooperatives in urban areas. In total, Poland is home to over 3,722 such entities. There is also a large number of cooperatives operating in rural areas and agriculture. However, it is not just the cooperatives established by agricultural producers that are popular –there are also considerable numbers of cooperative banks and ‘Samopomoc Chłopska’ (farmer’s self-help) cooperatives. In turn, ‘Społem’ food cooperatives are popular in many cities, including Warsaw, Kraków and Poznań. It is also worth noting the development of social cooperatives, which are part of the social economy.

  2. Changsub Shin (Author)

    THE NECESSITY OF HARMONIZATION AS A GUIDING PRINCIPLE: FOCUSING ON COOPERATIVE LEGISLATION IN SOUTH KOREA

    The law, in a broad sense, includes precedents, equity, and custom as well as the will of legislators. From this perspective, the principles and experienses accumulated in the international cooperative movement serve as foundation for creation of a cooperative legal tradition. In terms of the cooperative legal tradition, harmonization presupposes differences, and allows the disconnection and replacement of a paradigm. As shown in the term “paradigm,” harmonization does not mean uniformity between positive laws. Legal theories and concepts function as guiding or interpretation principles in relation to the positive laws through comparison and evaluation of those positive laws. Harmonization means such common legal theory that operates on the principle of interpretation of the cooperative laws in a nation.This study aims to examine how the concepts of cooperative transactions and member shares works in Korean cooperative legislation. The definition of these two concepts refer to the contents of the Principlesof European Cooperative Law (hereinafter referred to as its acronym, PECOL). PECOL focused on the ideal legal identity of cooperatives, drafted by a team of legal scholars, and aimed to describe the common core of European cooperative laws through an incorporated comparative study. My intention was to compare the guiding principles provided by PECOL with Korean cooperative law. Korea has nine cooperative laws including The Framework Act on Cooperatives. The Framework Act on Cooperatives was enacted to function as a general law, all the acts except for the Framework Act on Cooperatives are referred to as a “special cooperative law”.

  3. Marianna Ferraz Teixeira, Marília Ferraz Teixeira , Mariana Avelar Jaloretto (Author)

    THE HARMONIZATION OF COOPERATIVE LAW IN THE MERCOSUR AND THE PRINCIPLE OF COOPERATION AMONG COOPERATIVES

    The present work aims to analyze how the effective harmonization of laws within the scope of Mercosur can favor cooperation among cooperatives inserted in such economic bloc, promoting, in the first instance, the development of cooperativism, so that it becomes possible to face the challenges to come and, as a consequence, enabling regional growth. To this end, the Mercosur recommendations on this matter and its correlation with the Cooperative Laws, among its member countries, will be analyzed. Furthermore, it is also intended to address the extent to which the insertion of rules of Community Law in local lawsand regulations can create a friendly environment in favor of intercooperation, especially due to new technological advances. On the other hand, the possible obstacles to the harmonization of laws to take placewill be also analyzed, having in mind that Mercosur was established in 1991, the Statute of MERCOSUR Cooperativeshas existed for 13years and, yet, none of those main principles set forth in the Statute were effectively fulfilled.

  4. Jerome Nikolai Warren (Author)

    LAW, LEGISLATION, COOPERATION: TOWARDS A GENERAL THEORY OF COOPERATION

    This contribution attempts to respond to Antonio Fici’s call for increased dialogue between law and economics on the topic of cooperatives. Concretely, it seeks to contribute two things: firstly, to ask what ageneral theoryof cooperation might look like and secondly,to outline a framework for cooperative economics. It does this by attempting to embed democracyin an economic viewpoint, via the notion of arelationalorcooperative rent and discovers that the presently dominant neoclassical model is not in a position to facilitate such a translation. It will be argued that the theory of legal imputationcan serve as a benchmark for rendering organizational decisions respective of stakeholder status. Lastly, drawing especially on work by the German legal historian Otto von Gierke, it outlines the role of a synthetic “social law” that seeks to embed individuals within a collective, connecting these ideas with contemporary discourse on complexity and cybernetics.

  5. Ajibola Anthony Akanji (Author)

    CO-OPERATIVES, THEIR POLITICAL ECONOMY, AND THE PROPOSED HARMONIZATION OF LAWS: A CASE FOR AFRICA

    The materialists conceptualize history within the context ofconflict relating to classes and socio-economic forces. Within history, co-operatives as socio-economic forces have played significant roles in the stages of developmentand have gained relevance in the class struggles that have ensued. Hence, co-operatives qualify as products and players in the dynamic and evolving Marxism versus capitalism struggles. As a result, co-operative laws are a reflection of the climax and anti-climax of class struggles, but in African’s case a body of defective legal framework is presented. These deficiencies currently constitute hindrances to the optimal utilization of some projected benefits from the harmonization of co-operative laws. With Nigeria as the primary case study,this work critically reviews extantliterature that problemitises the study, adoptingthe descriptive research methodology. The political economy of African co-operatives is appraised, with the following preliminary findings: African co-operatives have been impacted with variants of Marxism and capitalism through military and civil rules in the postcolonial era, both ideologies have influences on African co-operative laws, with capitalism having the better share, African co-operatives possess symptoms of peasant Marxism, but are regulated by laws highly influenced by imperial-capitalism, this ideological deficitis at the foundation of co-operative law in Africa. Although reviews and advancements are currently being attempted through the harmonization of co-operative legislations within the regions of Africa, regional frameworks have not been particularly successful on the continent. Therefore, an appraisal of the political economy of African co-operatives and its influences on co-operative laws is recommended as a primary remedial. Further, an apex international legal framework which addresses local peculiarities that influences such political economy, and by consequence sub-national and national co-operative legislations is recommended. A Universal Charter for Co-operative Societies fashioned after the Universal Charter on Human Rights 1948 is then proposed for further development.

  6. Nagao Menezes, Daniel Francisco, González Rivera, Tatiana Vanessa (Author)

    SHARING ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC LIBERALISM: NEW CONTEXT FOR PLATFORM COOPERATIVISM

    The current technological advance, driven by the generalization in the use of information and communication technologies and social networks, together with the dynamism of economic markets, has favored the emergence of the collaborative economy phenomenon.Its evolution has led us to the implementation of large digital mediation platforms that have created new business models that capitalize on the collaboration of users and appropriate the capital gains generated by their interaction. In addition, they have become promoters of a supposed new way of working that, in reality, is one more level of the flexibilization trend of the labor market and its consequent precariousness of labor relations. In fact, the existence of an employment relationship within these platforms is denied under a friendly discourse focused on freedom, proactivity, and cooperation. In this work, we intend to reflect on the concept of the collaborative economy and its raison d'être, the context in which this phenomenon occurs, and the consequences that begin to manifest themselves in the economy in general and in the labor market in particular.

  7. Deolinda Meira (Author)

    COOPERATIVE VIRTUAL GENERAL ASSEMBLIES AND COOPERATIVE PRINCIPLES. A LEGAL AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

    Cooperatives must achieve the digital transition in its various dimensions. New technologies must be put at the service of promoting democratic participation, supporting democratic management, and bringing cooperators closer to the cooperative. Virtual general meetings can be a way of consolidating the cooperative principle of democratic member control. In turn, the principle of education, training, and information may enhance the digital transition in cooperatives and promote virtual general meetings. The pandemic caused by COVID-19 forced social distancing to deal with health restrictions, which boosted internal digital-based organisational processes, including general assemblies. The results of the COOPVID Project show that in some cooperatives the general assemblies that were held via videoconference had more participation than when they were held in person and some cooperatives are already thinking about changing the model of how meetings will be held during the post-pandemic period. The project also highlighted that in general the cooperatives do not use the reserve for education and training to combat digital illiteracy.

Legislation

  1. Bridget Carroll (Author)

    IRELAND’S PROPOSED CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES BILL 2022

    In November 2022 the government of Ireland published the General Scheme of the Co-operative Societies Bill, 2022. To date, co-operatives in Ireland have largely made use of the Industrial and Provident Societies Acts (1893-2021) which pre-date the state. The proposed new legislation, which is specific to co-operatives, is significant in scale, consolidating existing provisions and introducing new ones aimed at modernising co-operative governance in areas suchas the legal duties of directors, compliance and financial reporting requirements. It follows an overhaul of the Companies Act and a public consultation exercise.

Practicioners’ Corner

  1. Holger Blisse (Author)

    THE CASE FOR THE LEGAL PROTECTION OF COOPERATIVE RESERVES IN ‘OLD’ COOPERATIVES IN GERMANY AND AUSTRIA

    In this article, the term ‘old’ cooperatives is used to refer to e.g. agricultural,consumer, credit or housing cooperativesthathave been in existence for more than a generation. Legislation has provided a legal form for cooperatives in Germany and Austria since the late middle of the 19thcentury. Althoughcooperatives today are different from the time of their creation,2these‘old’ cooperatives still can fulfill their historical andsocial functions.3In theirareas of activity, their establishedsystems and structures can contribute socially inthe division of labor,and in an increasingly competitive economy they cancounteract monopolistic concentration and economic and social imbalances.