Description
Book SynopsisBernard E. Harcourt develops a transformative theory and practice that builds on worldwide models of successful cooperation.
Trade ReviewBernard Harcourt’s creative and courageous vision of a flexible cooperation democracy takes us far beyond the toxic impasse between conservative deregulation and liberal administrative state policies! His radical participatory democracy in all spheres also captures much of the best of abolitionist projects while remaining rooted in past and present cooperative movements. His marvelous book is badly needed in our decadent times! -- Cornel West
Cooperation is a call for a new society built from existing cooperative practices and grounded in values of cooperation and mutualism. An inspiration for all who wish to move beyond the old dichotomy of capitalism and communism. -- Katharina Pistor, author of
The Code of Capital: How the Law Creates Wealth and InequalityFrom climate change to mass criminalization, we are confronting a range of existential challenges. Harcourt’s emphasis on cooperation as the key to confronting these challenges while building a more just society allows him to create an inspiring framework so many of us could learn from. -- Amna A. Akbar, The Ohio State University
What makes his contribution unique and inspiring is precisely that he applies it to other facets of our social life, especially with the ideal of ending the punitive model of society. He joins many others in reminding us that we need not wait for society as a whole to realize a new cooperative vision; we can just cooperate at whatever level we can. * Los Angeles Review of Books *
On the whole there is much to like in Harcourt’s
Cooperation, especially his informative introduction to the cooperative sector of the economy. For members of cooperatives, his delineation of the three aspects of what cooperation entails is worth contemplating. So too should his analysis of combining, compounding, and leveraging be studied so that the movement for a post-capitalist economy can be hastened. * Grassroots Economic Organizing *
Table of ContentsGetting Started
1. The Urgency of Coöperism
2. The Ubiquity of Cooperation
3. The Simplicity of Cooperation
4. The Political Theory of Coöperism
5. The Economic Theory of Coöperism
6. The Social Theory of Coöperism
7. A Defense of Coöperism
8. Cooperation Democracy
Acknowledgments
Notes
Bibliography
Index
