State and Markets in Co-operative Development: An Appraisal of African’s Political Economy of Organised Solidarities

This  is a preparatory online event, for the in-person panel presentations  roundtable of early career researchers that seek to tell the story of co-operatives as bedrock of African solidarity. It captures modern co-operatives as cogent examples of organised African solidarities. As currently obtains in many African countries, co-operatives are offshoots of indigenous social solidarity initiatives with pre-colonial roots. It is on record that co-operatives played pivotal roles in pre-colonial and colonial African societies and were key instruments in anti-colonial agitations. Despite their historical significance, and to curb their relevance, colonial administrations imposed regulatory frameworks, leading to creation of dysfunctional co-operative political economies. In recent times, aims of African governments to harness co-operatives for sustainable development are encumbered by deficient legal and administrative frameworks. These anomalies persist, and perpetuates a cycle which hinders the attainment of full potential of African co-operatives. Although governance has transited from colonial administration to self-rule, dysfunctional foundations of political economy earlier laid for co-operatives remains largely intact. Thus many African governments approbate to partner co-operatives as partners for sustainable development. Conversely, the same African governments reprobate by maintaining deficient legal and administrative frameworks earlier identified. Furthermore, much of research and discussions on African co-operatives unintentionally ignores, the cogent rationality of the interface of politics and economics. This trend preserve the root causes of problems inherent in African co-operatives. Therefore, a roundtable is proposed to dissect and proffer remedial for the identified problem. This will be addressed from two perspectives: (a) appraisal of colonial and neo-colonial; and (b) Evaluation of the evolution of administrative and legal policies.

Keywords: Administrative policies, Co-operative development, State-politics, Market-economics, Legal frameworks