Introduction

It might be naturally assumed that the cooperative character – by which we mean organizational characteristics that are defined by cooperative principles and values – must necessarily be limited to cooperative organizations, whose rules require that such principles and values be embedded in the organization's governance. This chapter asks to what extent is it realistic to suggest that the cooperative character could also be part of a non-cooperative organization such as a local council of elected representatives? This is the interesting case of the growth of local councils around the UK who are self-denominating as ‘cooperative councils’ and committing themselves to cooperative ways of working by joining the Co-operative Councils Innovation Network (CCIN). Inherent in this discussion is a seeming link between CWB and co-operatives or, if not cooperative businesses, the connection to a feeling or ‘sense of co-operation’ within councils and the communities that they serve and between councils belonging to the CCIN. A sense of co-operation is a rather vague and somewhat abstract notion, so what is this ‘sense’, if it exists, and does it have any value? This chapter is also an enquiry into the validity and authenticity of this notion. Finally, a discussion of a network of cooperative councils must also bring with it the recently revived concept of ‘new municipalism’, analysed and usefully summarized by Thompson (2021).

This chapter, therefore, begins with a discussion of the turn to new municipalism and the balance or tension between a vision of a future that is both socially radically transformative on the one hand and practical and achievable on the other. This aspirational, some would say utopic, vision projects an alternative to capitalism through a system of mutual support, altruism for the common good, equality, equity, renewed democracy and the removal of hierarchies (Bookchin, 2005). At the core of this socioeconomic transformation is an approach, embodied by the CCIN, that highlights the apparently irreconcilable, even bipolar opposites of cooperation and competition. The central question that arises from this conflict is how can co-operation function in the context of competition? In the UK and elsewhere, different versions of crisis, but all in the context of the failures of capitalist scenarios of competition, have been a trigger for co- operation: austerity politics in Preston (Preston Model), the housing crisis in Barcelona (Barcelona en Comu), racial discrimination in Mississippi (Co- operation Jackson), with each geographical location providing its own version of a cooperative society.