Co-operatives Today: Selected Essays from Various Fields of Cooperative Activities

Abstract

This book gives voice to the concerns o f the many co-operative movements that want a clear picture o f where co-operation stands today at. The ICA Congress in Hamburg in 1984 stressed the need for research into the latest developments and trends o f the co-operative movement. The World is changing, so are the co-operatives, we need to understand the change, i f we are to cope with it. ICA is very grateful to Dr. Juhani Laurinkari, a docent of the Helsinki University, who initiated this collection o f articles on co-operative activities. Our gratitude goes also to those professors and researchers, who volunteered to write these articles that enrich our understanding o f co-operation. The authors enjoy international reputation for their work on co-operative questions. The overwhelming majority o f the book’s authors work for Universities and research institutes. They take a scientific approach to the concerns o f to-day’s co-operatives. A t the same time, the opinions and conclusions expressed in these articles, reflect the private convictions o f their authors, not necessarily those o f ICA. Perhaps, some will not agree with some articles, so be it. But i f the book provokes further discussions, it will have reached its objective and performed a service valuable to co-operatives.