Cooperative idea
In terms of their structural diversity and the number of their members, the cooperatives are part of the largest form of economic organization and yet a form of company that has hardly been considered. In the large industrial nations as well as in the emerging and developing countries , however, the cooperative idea can be found almost everywhere in all areas of agriculture , trade , handicrafts , production, finance and art and culture. Nevertheless, it is considered endangered by global competition and financial trading, by declining communication in academic teaching at universities and hardly any media perception.
The modern cooperative movement
After the first, albeit unsuccessful, attempts in France and England, the cooperative movement received its solid base around the middle of the 19th century, in particular through the work of Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch and Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen , and it received it through that of Schulze -Delitzsch introduced its legal norm in the form of the German Cooperative Act, which has been modified to this day . On the basis of acting according to the principle of “help through self-help”, initiatives can act in an economically competitive manner free of state support through the work of people acting together. The socially effective mechanisms of the cooperative principles proved to be sustainable, not least during the global financial crisis that began in 2007, as Volksbanks and Raiffeisenbanks were not directly affected by their control mechanisms and financial speculations that were not carried out.
The importance of the cooperative movement becomes clear not only in the fact that it unfolds its effect on almost all levels of economic, social and cultural life, but also in the number of people who identify with it. Today cooperatives have over 800 million members in over 100 countries. Cooperatives differ from other forms of business, such as stock corporations and a GmbH, in their value orientation, such as self-help, solidarity, personal responsibility, equality, democracy in decision-making, voluntariness and justice.
At the instigation of the Federal Republic of Germany, the cooperative idea was included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2016 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Manfred Wilde: The cooperative idea. Intangible cultural heritage of humanity in UNESCO . In: Delitzscher yearbook for history and regional studies . 2018, p. 95-104 .