040292 VO Cooperative Business (BA) (2023S)

The course is aimed at students who are interested in alternative and cooperative forms of enterprises based on principles such as self-help, self-management, democratic management or the common good.

Cooperative forms of enterprises such as cooperatives, mutual insurance companies, social enterprises, non-profit organisations etc. have mostly emerged as a reaction to historical, political, economic and social changes. This means that their histories of origin reflect at the same time the economic and social conditions as well as the problems of the particular epoch. The aim of the lecture is to show these developments and relate them to concepts such as solidarity, fairness, democracy and collective self-help. In the process, it will be shown that not-for-profit enterprises, whose origins are often rooted in the social problems of the 18th and 19th centuries, still fulfil important social and economic functions today as a counterpart to profit-oriented economic enterprises. In times of climate and energy crises, cooperatives, non-profit-organisations or social enterprises try to contribute to solving the social and economic challenges of the 21st century (Community Supported Agriculture, energy cooperatives, social cooperatives, etc.) with innovative concepts. The aim of this course is to give participants an overview of the development of such enterprises, their principles and current alternative economic concepts.