This textbook is a revised second edition of a "classic" on co-operative law, which has been translated into more than 20 languages. The book integrates an analysis of the 1995 Statement of the Co-operative Identity of the International Co-operative Alliance and the impact of political, economic, and social changes over the past 40 years. The original pattern of the book remains unchanged: Two questions are answered for each of the identified principles: What is the meaning of this co-operative principle? How is this principle translated into co-operative legislation? In this newest edition, two additional questions are discussed and answered for each of the chapters: What are the new development trends and what are the new rules in co-operative legislation? (Series: Economy: Research and Science / Wirtschaft: Forschung und Wissenschaft - Vol. 34) [Subject: Co-operative Law]

With growing economic inequality and threats to the sustainability of human societies, Koh argues that cooperatives can play an important role in promoting decent work and reducing economic inequality in the twenty-first century and thus urges policy makers to reignite policy discussions on cooperatives. This book shows how worker cooperatives are uniquely situated to empower low- and middle-wage workers and what governments can do to promote them. Koh clarifies the mechanism by which cooperatives create an upper hand over conventional companies in ‘labor-intensive’ sectors, thereby boosting employment potential. He also explains cooperatives’ wide contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the resilience of cooperatives in times of crises and their potential to address the challenges of aging societies. Furthermore, he provides a foundational work on ‘decentralized supporting mechanisms for cooperatives’ based on the analysis of the case of South Korea, where the number of cooperatives increased by 2,000 percent between 2013 and 2023. Lastly, he explains how to use Official Development Assistance (ODA) to support cooperatives in developing countries, especially Private Sector Instruments (PSIs), which were introduced in 2016 by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of cooperative management, development economics, and heterodox economics, as well as to policy makers and professionals.

Cooperatives are found everywhere, doing all kinds of things. They are critical elements in the economies of a large number of countries around the world, large and small. Their affairs are carried out by elected leadership that runs the gamut from the illiterate to the scholarly. Their membership is made up of people of all socio-economic backgrounds. It is those members who, through their support and their needs, determine the successes and failures of cooperatives. But cooperatives as a popular movement will also be judged in other ways. A judgment will be made on the totality of their impact: local, national, and international. People will ask about how they helped ameliorate the economic and social problems of the dispossessed. But they will also inquire about their influence on economic systems, whether these were made more humane, egalitarian, and inclusive in their benefits because of cooperative principles and practices. Their impact on the international order will be judged collectively by how they contributed more than resolutions to peace, to justice, and to human inclusiveness. This volume provides snapshot views of the cooperative movement in all its diversity. The only single source one can consult to find so much information on the different kinds of cooperatives, significant figures, including philosophers, pioneers, officials, and leaders, and the situation in a large number of countries. With a list of acronyms, an extensive chronology, appendixes, and a comprehensive bibliography.