Are co-ops appropriate models?
from Co-opNet Digest, 80, October, 1998

October 11, 1998

Martin Meteyard replying to Simon McFarlane wrote:

...The point is, however, what forms the basis of [the] state? What creates social cohesion, inclusion, solidarity, and so on? What is the nature of the civil society. Crudely, why is it not possible to have a government which presides over - and is accountable to - people organising their lives through co-operatively based structures?....

Can I recommend a couple of books on this by Paul Hirst: "Associative Democracy" (Polity Press) & "From Statism to Pluralism" (UCL Press). Heavily paraphrased this sees the role of the state as the collector and disburser of taxes to self governing associations which provide services to their members, the state guarantees minimum standards (associations can vary above these), the right of entry and exit to associations and if my memory serves runs a strengthened audit commission.  The beauty of Hirst's outline is that it recognises that different people want different things out of organisations at different times.

In my opinion, this is one area where the market does have a significant edge over state provision at the moment at least. A major problem with the National Health Service [in the United Kingdom] is that it treats everyone as the same when in fact we are all different.

It also makes allowances for whether people want to be actively involved in an association or to use it more as a consumer - have different associations that do either.

I'd also suggest that, yes, you could use models like this to do away with nation states and even supranational borders - the role of the nation state as 'friend of the people' is a comparatively new one and its centralised structures  need to be changed drastically if it isn't to revert to its more usual position.

Don Tyler