Community Cooperatives Research Articles

Community Democratization of Telecommunications Community Cooperatives in Argentina: The Case Of TELPIN

A telecommunications community cooperative (TCC) is an autonomous association of individuals, which join forces to solve common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned enterprise, democratically governed and managed. In Argentina, TCCs were created by community conscious members to fill in for the State role when it was unable to provide telephone service in remote areas, generally marginalized from services provision. In 1989, the State telephone enterprise was privatized. From 1992 onwards, TCCs replaced the large private telephone enterprises, since these were not interested in providing non profitable services in remote or low-populated areas.
 
 TCCs provide telephone and Internet services, by dial-up and/or broadband (ADSL) connections, as well as IP telephony, to their target populations at significantly lower costs than the large traditional firms (Telefónica and Telecom). Most of them offer also free community services, such as courses on information and communication technologies (ICTs), free Internet access to public schools, libraries, and public facilities (police stations, hospitals, etc.). 
 This work focuses on a particular case study: TELPIN, the Pinamar Telecommunications Cooperative. Telpin was created by a group of Pinamar neighbors, most of them founders of the local community, in 1962. Since then, it has become the largest and most successful Telecommunications Cooperative in Argentina.

MULTISCALAR MODEL OF RURAL HOUSEHOLDS AND COMMUNITIES IN LATE CLASSIC COPAN MAYA SOCIETY

A variety of models contribute to our understanding of Classic Maya sociopolitical structure. Few, however, consider the variability that existed within Maya systems, and the temporal and spatial scales of analysis have often been limited, especially with respect to the commoner segment of society. One model that has focused attention on this component of the Maya is thesian otot, described by Charles Wisdom (1940The Chorti Indians of Guatemala. University of Chicago Press) and introduced for the Copan Maya by William Fash (1983 Deducing Social Organization from Classic Maya Settlement Patterns: A Case Study from the Copan Valley. InCivilization in the Ancient Americas: Essays in Honor of Gordon R. Willey. University of New Mexico Press and Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University). Based on data from a 135-km2regional settlement survey and excavations of the Copan Valley in Honduras, it is argued that this model, in conjunction with other, broader models of Classic Maya society, offers a useful perspective from which to construct a multiscalar model of ancient Copan social organization. The variability amongsian otot, particularly in terms of economic production, is considered. The ceramic data from Copan suggest that ceramic production among commoner units was communal, and the possibility for community cooperatives is raised. Finally, the dynamic scale and productive relations among the commoners are considered in light of broader sociopolitical changes in the processual history of the Copan polity. It is concluded that the intersection of social, political, and economic institutional frameworks needs to be more comprehensively investigated from varied scales, both temporal and settlement, to appreciate fully the diversity of Maya social organization during the Late Classic/Terminal Classic transition.

The contribution of the community co-operatives of the highland and island of Scotland to the development of the social economy

The article considers the “pragmatic reform” versus “radical utopia” duality within the social economy and, in that context, evaluates the contribution of the community cooperatives of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland to the development of the modern UK social economy. The assessment is based on recent research, including interviews with representatives of several cooperatives and others involved in the initiative undertaken by the former Highlands and Islands Development Board, or in related activities. The origins of the Scottish social economy lie in the “Highland Problem”, arising from the processes of depopulation of the Highlands and Islands as a result of the clearances, the need for local employment opportunities, the exploitation of Scotland as a British colony, the cultural dimension, and the profound importance of the land question. The initiative has been very successful, on a number of different levels: it created new jobs, services and enterprises; very importantly, it built asset bases and revenue income to underpin development; it changed people’s lives, was genuinely bottom-up, raised consciousness, reinforced the mutual cooperation tradition of the area, and inspired people elsewhere to do similar things. It can claim a degree of radicalism and the achievement of some significant social change.

Communitarian populism and the politics of rearguard resistance in rural Ireland

This paper considers how well two rural traditions of Irish community development, one based on community councils the other on community cooperatives, conform to models of radical and pragmatic populist‐type collective action. Two simple models of radical and pragmatic populist‐type collective action are first outlined. We then explore the initial appearance of our two traditions, their ideologies, their organizational cultures, the sort of tactics they have relied on and how well they have fared in realizing their concrete aims. Each of our traditions is shown to gravitate more to pragmatic populist‐type collective action, though this is not unequivocally so across the board.

Proper Job Community Co-op

Proper Job Community Co-op

Proper Job Community Co-op

Proper Job Community Co-op

Towards sustainable food and farming systems in industrialised countries

Economic systems at all levels rely for their success on the value of services flowing from the stock of total assets which comprise five types of capital: natural, social, human, physical and financial. Sustainable systems accumulate stocks of these five assets, so increasing the capital base over time. But unsustainable systems deplete or run down capital, spending assets as if they were income and so leaving less for future generations. Modern agriculture has diminished these assets whilst increasing productivity, imposing external costs on many sectors. In the meantime, the food system has become increasingly globalised, bringing with it concerns about new inequities. Alternatives, however, are arising, with a range of approaches available for taking some of the value in food systems back to rural communities and people. Five options are discussed in the paper: adopt sustainable agriculture; sell direct to consumers; enhance links with community co-operatives; organise into farmers' groups; and encourage ecolabelling and traceability. The challenge is to find ways of integrating all of these in supportive policy frameworks. Two examples of improvements in Toronto and Hartford are discussed in detail.

Community Enterprise: What type of enterprise for what type of community?

This paper examines Scottish experience, especially its community economic initiatives through the establishment of the Community Employment Group. Local authorities are also increasingly involved in promoting local economic initiatives. This activity has grown because of the urgent need to respond to rising unemployment but unless there is a clearer understanding of the types of initiatives that will work, well-intentioned efforts will be wasted. Much activity has been based on a mistaken impression of Scottish experience and especially the supposed success of community business. Moreover as we explain below, New Zealand is a less favourable for community business than Scotland. Community cooperatives and the community credit unions may well be better examples to build on. Before explaining these arguments, some discussion of the recent growth of community enterprise in New Zealand is needed.

Community co-operatives and adult education in Scotland and Ghana: Some lessons from the developed and developing world

Community co-operatives and adult education in Scotland and Ghana: Some lessons from the developed and developing world

農協の変質と新しい地域協同組合論

農協の変質と新しい地域協同組合論

Organizational Change and Adaptation: Community Cooperatives and Capital Control in the Western Isles of Scotland

The community cooperative on Barra (Western Isles of Scotland) expanded in 1984 to incorporate a limited company—Iasg Bharraidh—whose major purpose was the collective marketing of shellfish for island fishermen. This response to falling prices for shellfish involved the substitution of collective activity for individualistic marketing, and other adaptations to a wider economic system beyond their control. The history of the shellfish industry and the community cooperative will be given to provide context for an evolving marketing structure. The limited company is analyzed in terms of a transitional organization designed to permit the community to adapt to changing conditions in the wider political economy. Considerations of risk, technological change, resource conservation, and community dynamics are introduced, to indicate that cooperative organizations in peripheral areas perform very complex functions, not the least of which is to alleviate social unrest in the periphery. Cooperatives have both transformative and resistive roles. This paper tries to elucidate some of the factors that locate the Barra community cooperative within a strategy of transformation rather than that of resistance to wider social, economic, and political constraints.