A Worldwide Historical Perspective on Co-operatives and Their Evolution

Author(s):  
Vera Zamagni

The birth of co-operatives in Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century shaped this form of enterprise by differentiating it from the established capitalist one, both in terms of internal organization and in terms of sectors of activity. This chapter highlights first the process of diffusion of co-operatives in the nineteenth century by grouping them into models—consumer, worker, financial, and rural co-operatives—that formed the pillars of the movement. The second part of the chapter is devoted to the novelties that emerged after World War II, especially social co-operatives and service co-operatives, giving a general account of developments of co-operation in Western Europe, North America, and Japan. A final glance of the new opportunities offered for co-operation through the Web is offered.

2005 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-13
Author(s):  
Mike Kelly

The 45th Annual Preconference of the Rare Books and Manuscripts Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries was titled “Ebb & Flow: The Migration of Collections to American Libraries.” From June 21–June 24, 2004, on the campus of Yale University, speakers addressed a variety of topics around this theme. Plenary speakers addressed the migration of books to North America during the colonial period, the development of university library collections in the nineteenth century, the epic collecting of J. Pierpont Morgan, and the post-World War II antiquarian book trade. Alice Prochaska, Yale University librarian, opened the conference with . . .


Author(s):  
Charles B. Roger

This chapter explains how informal organizations are conceptualized in the book. It also maps temporal and geographic trends. It starts by explaining the idea of a formal international organization and uses this idea as a model to illustrate the contrasting features of informal organizations. The chapter then reviews what are called the distinct “functional properties” and “domestic implications” of formal and informal organizations, which are central for understanding the different theories that have been offered. The final part of the chapter explains how the concept of an informal organization has been operationalized and used to generate a database of informal institutions. Descriptive statistics are presented that help scholars to visualize the institutional terrain any theory of informality must explain. These reveal the extraordinary growth of informal organizations since the end of World War II, as well as the central role of states in North America and Western Europe in that growth.


1954 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence S. Kaplan

The signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on April 4, 1949, gave rise to a number of books and articles on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) the volume of which will probably continue for some time. The treaty and the organization that it created represent the clearest challenge to Soviet expansionism since the end of World War II. Through this action twelve nations of North America and western Europe resolved to consider an armed attack against one member an attack against them all, and to create sufficient stiength within the alliance to deter potential aggressors. But NATO's continuing interest to commentators stems from reasons other than its value as a weapon against the spread of communism. To some writers NATO appears to be a stimulant that would revive a moribund United Nations, to others it is the beginning of a new kind of alliance unprecedented in history, to still others, it is a symbol of America's rejection of isolationism. So vague are some of the treaty's articles and so rapid has been the evolution of the organization that almost any observer could derive whatever meaning he wishes out of NATO's development.


Author(s):  
Derek J. Penslar

This epilogue argues that over the century and a half, from the French revolutionary wars to World War II, Jews in military service were carriers of multiple, overlapping, and at times clashing identities. They often felt a sincere, profound attachment to their homeland and fought with no sense of qualitative difference from their countrymen. Believing that their homeland epitomized toleration and respect for human dignity, Jews in western Europe and North America defined their countries' wars as Jewish wars. Moreover, Jews celebrated their men in uniform not only for their virility and bravery, not only for fulfilling their patriotic duty, but also for boldly asserting their religious particularism. The Jewish soldier at a Sabbath service in the field or a synagogue at home brought glory to his community not simply because he donned his uniform and decorations but because he did so while occupying a manifestly Jewish space.


Author(s):  
Mark Franko

This book is an examination of neoclassical ballet initially in the French context before and after World War I (circa 1905–1944) with close attention to dancer and choreographer Serge Lifar. Since the critical discourses analyzed indulged in flights of poetic fancy a distinction is made between the Lifar-image (the dancer on stage and object of discussion by critics), the Lifar-discourse (the writings on Lifar as well as his own discourse), and the Lifar-person (the historical actor). This topic is further developed in the final chapter into a discussion of the so-called baroque dance both as a historical object and as a motif of contemporary experimentation as it emerged in the aftermath of World War II (circa 1947–1991) in France. Using Lifar as a through-line, the book explores the development of critical ideas of neoclassicism in relation to his work and his drift toward a fascist position that can be traced to the influence of Nietzsche on his critical reception. Lifar’s collaborationism during the Occupation confirms this analysis. The discussion of neoclassicism begins in the final years of the nineteenth-century and carries us through the Occupation; then track the baroque in its gradual development from the early 1950s through the end of the 1980s and early 1990s.


Urban History ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
APOSTOLOS DELIS

ABSTRACT:Port-cities provide excellent examples of the socio-economic transformations that occurred during the transition from merchant to industrial capitalism in the second half of the nineteenth century. Hermoupolis on the island of Syros was a major economic centre in Greece and a hub of international trade during the nineteenth century. However, economic transformations that commenced in the 1860s affected long-established port-based activities such as wooden shipbuilding and its related industries due to the decline of sailing ships and the expansion of factories. This factor led to an increase in tension and antagonism between manufacturers and shipbuilders over the use of land and altered the physical and the socio-economic landscape of the port-city. However, new types of economic activities flourished, like the tramp steamship business and factories, which enabled Hermoupolis to maintain its economic importance until World War II.


2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Urban-Mead

AbstractThis article analyzes the phenomena of dancing and wedding apparel in weddings of rural members of an unusual Protestant denomination of Anabaptist origins in Matabeleland, colonial Zimbabwe. The focus is on gendered aspects of African Christian adaptation of mission teaching amongst Ndebele members of the Brethren in Christ Church. The church in North America was firm at home on the matter of dancing (it was forbidden), and internally conflicted regarding men's garb. In the decades preceding World War II, African members of the church embraced fashionable dress for grooms and dancing at wedding feasts as common practice at BICC weddings. However, in a gendered pattern reflecting Ndebele, colonial and mission ideas of women's subjection, African women's bridal wear adhered to church teaching on Plainness, while African men's did not.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-138
Author(s):  
William John Pratt

The wastage of Canadian manpower due to venereal disease (VD) during World War II was an ongoing problem for the Canadian Army. Military authorities took both medical and disciplinary measures in attempt to reduce the number of soldiers that were kept from regular duties while under treatment. The study of the techniques employed to control sexual behaviour and infection places the Canadian Army in a new historical perspective as a modern institution which sought to establish medical surveillance and disciplinary control over soldiers’ bodies. This study also explores Canadian soldiers’ sexual behaviour overseas, showing their engagement in a broken system of regulated prostitution, and with European women who were coping with war’s destabilization and strain by participating in the sex trade. Agents of the Canadian Army overseas extended their disciplinary and surveillance functions from soldiers to their sexual partners. VD rates were low when formations were in combat, but rose to alarming rates when they were out of the line, suggesting that individual agency and sexual choice trumped the efforts of modern discipline.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 213-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
James W. Nickel

Like people born shortly after World War II, the international human rights movement recently had its sixty-fifth birthday. This could mean that retirement is at hand and that death will come in a few decades. After all, the formulations of human rights that activists, lawyers, and politicians use today mostly derive from the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the world in 1948 was very different from our world today: the cold war was about to break out, communism was a strong and optimistic political force in an expansionist phase, and Western Europe was still recovering from the war. The struggle against entrenched racism and sexism had only just begun, decolonization was in its early stages, and Asia was still poor (Japan was under military reconstruction, and Mao's heavy-handed revolution in China was still in the future). Labor unions were strong in the industrialized world, and the movement of women into work outside the home and farm was in its early stages. Farming was less technological and usually on a smaller scale, the environmental movement had not yet flowered, and human-caused climate change was present but unrecognized. Personal computers and social networking were decades away, and Earth's human population was well under three billion.


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