Introduction: European Co-operativism in a changing world

The background to this book is an almost overwhelming and growing list of international tensions of various kinds: a pandemic, the climate emergency, the struggle for social justice as manifested in the Black Lives Matter movement, an alarming rise of extremist right-wing political positions, the politics of austerity, wage stagnation, growing inequalities, the refugee crises and, at the time of writing, the ‘cost of living’ crisis in Europe; all, combined with and partly as a result of the Russian military conflict with Ukraine, are causing serious social and economic uncertainties that bring into question previously held socio-economic expectations of citizens in 21st-century Europe. The present volume cannot hope to pretend to offer solutions to these multiple challenges, but nevertheless intends to present the reader with a consideration of the potential of co-operatives and cooperation as a means of reconstructing some of the damaged aspirations of the 20th century, as the 21st gets underway.