The case for “coöperism”: How we can solve global problems together

If we took the values and principles of cooperation to the next level, we could effectively tackle many crises.

  • The values at the heart of organized cooperation include participatory democracy, equity, and sustainability.
  • Today’s cooperative models could be combined and concentrated into an integrated framework of “coöperism.”
  • Coöperism is built on the idea of benefiting all the stakeholders of an enterprise and respecting their environment.

Cooperation: A Political, Economic, and Social Theory

Excerpted from the book by Bernard E. Harcourt Copyright (c) 2023 Cooperation: a political, economic and social theory

Cooperation generates that extra element—that additional part beyond the sum of the parts—that we might call “coöpower.”

Coöpower derives from the strength of the values and principles at the heart of cooperation: participatory democracy, equity in the distribution of wealth, care for all the stakeholders, solidarity, sustainability, and concern for the working environment.

It is time to harvest and distill this coöpower and place it at the heart of a political, economic, and social paradigm. It is time to concentrate it and make it grow, almost like a fission chain reaction, off the productive interactions of these core values and principles. These ideals can build on one another, reinforce and empower one another, in a way that would amplify the quiet paradigm of cooperation. In effect, it is time to combine, leverage, and compound the most promising forms of cooperation.

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