The historical development of cooperative principles in the International Cooperative Alliance
Abstract
The cooperative principles defined by the International Cooperative Alliance are not immutable but have been evolving at the same time as cooperatives have evolved to respond to the demands of a changing society over time. This paper provides a historical review of the three versions of cooperative principles that the International Cooperative Alliance has made, starting from the birth of the organization, to the current seven cooperative principles set out in the Statement on Cooperative Identity of the 1995 Manchester Congress, and continuing with the most recent interpretation of those principles reflected in the 2015 Guidance Notes and the current open process for their possible revision initiated at the Seoul Congress in 2021.
Received: 12 May 2025
Accepted: 27 May 2025
Downloads
Copyright (c) 2025 University of Deusto
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The authors, by submitting their manuscripts to the Deusto Estudios Cooperativos (DEC), accept the conditions listed below on copyright and undertake to comply with them. They do not sign any document of assignment of rights to the Publisher.
1. Authorship: The author must be the sole creator of the work or legally acting on behalf of and with the full agreement of all the authors.
2. Copyright and Code of conduct:
a) Authors warrant that their work is original; has not been previously copyrighted or published in any form; is not under consideration for publication elsewhere; its submission and publication do not violate the Ethical Guidelines of DEC and any codes (of conduct), laws or any rights of any third party; and no publication payment by the Publisher (University of Deusto) is required.
b) Authors grant to the Publisher the worldwide, sub-licensable, and royalty-free right to exploit the work in all forms and media of expression, now known or developed in the future, for educational and scholarly purposes.
c) Authors retain the right to present, display, distribute, develop, and republish their work to progress their scientific career provided the original publication source (DEC) is properly acknowledged.
d) Authors warrant that no permissions or licences of any kind have been granted or will be granted that might infringe the rights granted to the Publisher.
3.jpg)
3.jpg)
