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POST‐SOCIALIST FARMERS’ COOPERATIVES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
Author(s) -
HAGEDORN Konrad
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
annals of public and cooperative economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.526
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1467-8292
pISSN - 1370-4788
DOI - 10.1111/apce.12051
Subject(s) - opportunism , sustainability , constructive , communism , economic system , state (computer science) , business , political science , economic growth , market economy , economics , ecology , process (computing) , algorithm , politics , computer science , law , biology , operating system
The emergence, transformation and sustainability of farmers’ cooperatives in post‐socialist societies of Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC) require complex and diverse processes of institutional change. In this paper we discuss the conditions under which cooperatives develop and sustain and also the role of local and central actors using a case study approach. Since cooperatives in the socialist system provided numerous social services and contributed to rural development, another research question concerns the survival of this tradition. Through twin case studies in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and East Germany we present the conditions and strategies for achieving sustainability of co‐operatives. The results reveal important requirements for cooperatives to be sustainable: overcoming the communist legacy of mistrust against cooperative organizations, convincing members by building trust, coping with fundamental collective action problems, constructive communication that takes the problems and ideas of members seriously, finding cooperative leaders able to cope with members’ opportunism and a facilitating state encouraging the development of cooperatives.