Co-operation: Idea and Movement: European Experience

This paper examines the history of cooperative societies in Europe. The aim is to investigate the ways in which cooperatives acted as agents towards sustainable community development. The Paper is a descriptive survey, which involves the collection of data for the purpose of describing the origin, role and development of European cooperative societies in 18th and 19th century. The paper concludes that to be effective and successful, cooperative must continuously achieve two inter-related goals: enhance viability and improve ability to service its members; and remain an economically viable, innovative and competitive enterprise.