Co-Operative Innovations in China and the West

The declaration of 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives by the general assembly of the United Nations highlights co-operative contributions to socio-economic development. Since its inception the co-operative movement included highly diverse co-operatives, with different aims, governance and financial structures. This is exemplified by differences between Western and Chinese cooperative traditions. Important economic and social transformations have led to radical innovations in the governance and capital structures of cooperatives, both in the West and in China, have been observed. Differences may remain but interesting convergences are also apparent. To date, little dialogue has taken place between Chinese and Western cooperatives. This book aims to contribute to our understanding of both those worlds and provides scholars, co-operative leaders and policy makers with relevant and useful information for further development of both Chinese and Western cooperatives.

Caroline Gijselinckx is research manager at the HIVA-Research Institute for Work and Society, a multidisciplinary research institute based at the University of Leuven, Belgium. She is conducting research in the field of cooperative and social entrepreneurship, social movements and the non-profit sector, and has a particular interest in the organization and financing of welfare and care.

Sonja Novkovic is a Professor of Economics at Saint Mary's University, Canada. Her research interests are in the field of co-operative and labour-managed firms, social economy, and comparative economic systems. She is the Academic co-director of the Measuring the Cooperative Difference Research Network in collaboration with the Canadian Co-operative Association. She is a past president of the International Association for the Economics of Participation (IAFEP) and Vice President of the Canadian Association for Studies in Cooperation (CASC).

Li Zhao holds a PhD in political and social sciences from the University of Leuven, Belgium. Previously she was a researcher at HIVA and Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies, and guest lecturer at the LivingStone Centre of Competence for Intercultural Entrepreneurship. In China, she graduated with an M.A. in Public Management from Tsinghua University.