Internal governance challenges of young independent coffee cooperatives in south‐west Ethiopia

Abstract This study analyses the internal governance practices of coffee marketing cooperatives in south‐west Ethiopia. The investigation argues that there is a need to go beyond democratic governance practices in order to understand the governance of these cooperatives working in multi‐stakeholder environments where the state is powerful and intervenes in their operations. The study concludes that the actions of internal and external actors have resulted in unique governance structures that profoundly influence their operations.