ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the varying definitions of what a co-operative is as a member-owned business with an emphasis on democracy and community. The chapter explores various forms of co-operatives, including consumer, financial, agricultural worker and business co-operatives as well as more recent social and platform co-operatives. It compares the co-operative with other forms of business organisation such as mutuals and investor-owned businesses. The chapter also explores the various ideas that explain the birth, growth, death and revival of co-operatives. Market failure is an important explanation for the formation of co-operatives, while factors such as competition and unfavourable ideologies, more recently Neo-Liberalism, can explain decline.
