Claudia Sanchez-Bajo | Universidad de Buenos Aires (original) (raw)

Books by Claudia Sanchez-Bajo

In this visual essay we draw on photographs from several urban locations across Northern and Sout... more In this visual essay we draw on photographs from several urban locations across Northern and Southern geographies, particularly focused on the research contexts that are explored within the papers in this Special Issue, to explore the manifold meanings, divergent practices, and variegated outcomes of urban commoning (Garcia-Lopez et al., 2021; Eidelman and Safransky, 2021; Stavrides 2016). By pursuing a visual comparative method, which included collectively selecting and discussing photographs from our research contexts, we engaged in a careful dialogue through which we made sense of the images (Rose, 2008). We deliberated on what they represent, how they relate to each other, and what aspects of the (un)commoning they illuminate. Through this process, we identified four emerging themes that we believe highlight critical aspects of the commons, while at the same time holding our different contexts in place and together: (1) Precarity, violence, demolition; (2) Defiance, hope & the city as text; (3) Advancing socio-spatial relations; (4) Commoning as Human-non-human relations. Inevitably, there are many ways to interpret and categorise these images, since each photograph has multiple meanings and illustrates various facets of the commoning processes and practice. Nonetheless, through this method, we have been able to establish links between various places and geographies, highlighting the multiplicity and overlaps of common use practices.

2024: Autumn Special Issue: Housing as commons: sites of struggle and possibility, 2024

Access to quality and affordable housing is a growing challenge, and civil society has responded ... more Access to quality and affordable housing is a growing challenge, and civil society has responded with participatory and self-managed housing experiences. Housing cooperatives in Switzerland belong to this phenomenon. Polanyi's double movement theory and Ostrom's work on the commons are employed to investigate the motivations and practices of self-managed cooperative housing members in Geneva and Zurich. Following the case study methodology, findings show that the main motivation of cooperative members is to decommodify housing. Common practices include sharing and solidarity-based practices, mutual learning, flexibility for member entry and exit, and general assembly decisions about financial and environmental sustainability. Groups build common practices to access funding, knowledge and solidarity through multi-stakeholder networks, in particular non-profit architects. As trust in self-managed practices increases, they are able to engage in sustainable innovation. Adoption and replication make their housing experiences scalable, configuring a model in concept and practice. As a result of the increase in experience and reputation, members of housing cooperatives become advocates of affordable housing in Swiss referenda. Ostrom's notion of commons, bundle of rights and nesting can provide valuable contributions in urban sociology research on the commons, necessary for building decommodified affordable housing.

Cooperatives and the World of Work, Jul 16, 2019

Chapter: The concept of ‘epistemic community’ is used to explain the International Labour Organiz... more Chapter: The concept of ‘epistemic community’ is used to explain the International Labour Organization (ILO) work in relation to cooperatives, which includes the type of relationship that cooperatives have had with the ILO. Albert Thomas, first Director-General of the ILO from 1919 to 1932, was also a French cooperator and had gathered extensive knowledge on the cooperative movement during his travels throughout Europe. In 1923, Thomas set up an ILO Correspondence Committee on Co-operation, renamed in 1931 as the International Committee on Inter-Cooperative Relations. In 2004, the ILO and the International Co-operative Alliance signed a Memorandum of Understanding to implement a ‘Common Cooperative Agenda’ aimed at creating decent jobs and reducing poverty. The international organization valued cooperatives as solidarity in practice, through their relations, interconnections, services and general organization for mutual help, built by persons, families and communities in both rural and urban areas..
The book is unique in tracing the historical connection between cooperatives and the world of work since the end of the First World War and the recent shifts and restructuring in enterprise and the workplace. It presents a redefinition of the very concept of work, focusing on organizational innovation. This book is published in recognition of 100 years of the International Labour Organization, and gathers together research from leading experts who were brought together at an event co-hosted by the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA) and the International Labour Organization (ILO).

The financial crisis is destroying wealth but is also a remarkable opportunity to uncover the way... more The financial crisis is destroying wealth but is also a remarkable opportunity to uncover the ways by which debt can be used to regulate the economic system. This book uses four case studies of cooperatives to give an in-depth analysis on how they have braved the crisis and continued to generate wealth.
'This elegant and deeply-informed inquiry weaves together several themes, each significant in itself, even more so as their relations are developed: the deep and persistent crises of capitalism, in the current phase highly financialized, and the fundamental issue of decision-making in social and economic institutions, with special attention to the elaborate growth of cooperatives of many varieties, the forms they have taken, the problems they face, and their great promise in overcoming economic crises, social malaise, and democratic dysfunction.' - Professor Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA 'Capital and the Debt Trap combines a searing critique of the unstable debt- and-profit driven system that came close to final collapse in the Great Crisis with a fine portrait of the modern cooperative alternative that exists today in Mexico, Canada, France and Spain. Are these perhaps the small creatures that will survive and flourish after the great dinosaurs are gone? Let's hope so.' - James K. Galbraith, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and University of Texas at Austin 'This book is simply a masterpiece on cooperativism for the xxi century. It outstandingly demonstrates why cooperatives are more resilient to the crisis and avoid falling into the dept trap and its implacable cohort of inhuman effects. A decisive contribution not only to economic democracy but also to Democracy as a political system.' - Yves Cabannes, University College London 'This is a timely and important book which both analyses current economic turmoil and shows how the crisis may foment new and more co-operative forms of enterprise. Anyone interested in advancing the cause of participatory ownership as one means of guarding against recurrent crises should read this book.' George Irvin, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 'This book presents a thoughtful and exciting consideration of the roles cooperatives can play and should be expected to play today ... It deserves to be widely read and discussed within and across the boundaries that have long divided cooperative proponents and the general public.' Ian MacPherson, University of Victoria, Canada 'This book is a major step forward in understanding the working of co-operative economies. Its appearance could hardly have been more timely. At a point when the global financial system and the models of economic governance have been thrown into question, it shows how it is that co-operative financial systems are more crisis resistant than contemporary private banking, and how finance can be structured to service long term local and industrial growth rather than subject it to the imperative of short term profitability. More generally, the authors describe an architecture of co-operative governance that has not only been innovative and resilient but is particularly well suited to any post crisis world that is reshaped round multi stakeholder engagement.' - Robin Murray, LSE Global Governance and author of Co-operation in the Age of Google. 'This study on the current global crisis of capitalism is a surprising and fascinating analysis of the transformation that the current dominant world mode of production has gone through. The great merit of the book is to indicate the path to this change with great accuracy and richness of data. That is, the economy needs to return to the realm of the stakeholders. It is difficult to emphasize the appropriateness and importance of this work.' Paul Singer, University of Sao Paulo and Secretary of State for the Solidarity Economy of Brazil. We have been falsely made to believe that competition is the way nature and society work. However, greed and competition are dis-values imposed by corporate rule. Both nature and society work on the principles of co-operation. In Capital and the Debt Trap - Learning from Cooperatives in the Global Crisis Bruno Roelants and Claudia Sanchez Bajo show us how an economy based on co-operation can address the deep crisis we face.' - Vandana Shiva, Navdanya/Research Foundation for Science Technology & Ecology, New Delhi.

This chapter is grounded on the research published in the book Capital and the Debt Trap , learni... more This chapter is grounded on the research published in the book Capital and the Debt Trap , learning from cooperatives in the global crisis by Sanchez Bajo & Roelants in 2011. The book provides an explanation of the global crisis that broke out in 2007 and why cooperatives have been showing a relatively higher degree of resilience compared to other types of enterprises, generating genuine value and general wealth in a sustainable manner.
In this chapter we briefly review the path that has led us up to the latest debt trap with some recent considerations on the still evolving global crisis. We will focus on issues of resilience and sustainability. Not surprisingly perhaps, the Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013 placed resilience and ‘Resilient Dynamism’ at its center. The argument here is that cooperatives are part and parcel of a new trajectory not only because they are resilient and dynamic but also because they steer away from debt traps, freeing up forces for development and enabling community change.

Papers by Claudia Sanchez-Bajo

Many countries are facing repeated cycles of violence (World Bank, 2011; Walter, 2010), with more... more Many countries are facing repeated cycles of violence (World Bank, 2011; Walter, 2010), with more than 68 million people forcibly displaced worldwide. In a quest for sustainable peace, a growing interest can be observed regarding how civil society and business can help bring about peace. Cooperatives blend association and enterprise with significant potential for peace (MacPherson and Paz 2015; Joy and MacPherson 2007). As bottom-up initiatives, they provide solutions focused at the local level offering learning and practicing nonviolent interaction (Wanyama 2014; Sentama 2009; Havers 2007) and providing decent jobs and livelihoods (Date-Bah ed. 2003). The key word being supply, they are mainly seen as post-conflict community-based organizations (CBOs) that provide for basic human needs, gather labour, demobilize soldiers, and restart agriculture and services. Field observations, however, lend to a broader idea of how cooperatives contribute to positive peacebuilding by increasing trust and agency, raising empowerment, equality and empathy, while managing resources through a renewed notion of the commons (Ostrom 1990), even though challenges come as development takes place. Food security linked to SDG 2 can and need to be enhanced on this basis. The sample of visited cooperatives calls for further research.

Routledge eBooks, Jul 16, 2019

This chapter is grounded on the research published in the book Capital and the Debt Trap , learni... more This chapter is grounded on the research published in the book Capital and the Debt Trap , learning from cooperatives in the global crisis by Sanchez Bajo & Roelants in 2011. The book provides an explanation of the global crisis that broke out in 2007 and why cooperatives have been showing a relatively higher degree of resilience compared to other types of enterprises, generating genuine value and general wealth in a sustainable manner. In this chapter we briefly review the path that has led us up to the latest debt trap with some recent considerations on the still evolving global crisis. We will focus on issues of resilience and sustainability. Not surprisingly perhaps, the Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013 placed resilience and ‘Resilient Dynamism’ at its center. The argument here is that cooperatives are part and parcel of a new trajectory not only because they are resilient and dynamic but also because they steer away from debt traps, freeing up forces for development and enabling community change.

Third World Quarterly, Oct 1, 1999

... The European Union and Mercosur: A case of inter-regionalism. by Claudia Sanchez Bajo. ...

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 1992

Iberoamericana: Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 1999

Routledge eBooks, Oct 18, 2002

The financial crisis is destroying wealth but is also a remarkable opportunity to uncover the way... more The financial crisis is destroying wealth but is also a remarkable opportunity to uncover the ways by which debt can be used to regulate the economic system. This book uses four case studies of cooperatives to give an in-depth analysis on how they have braved the crisis and continued to generate wealth. ISBN 978-0-230-30852-7 'This elegant and deeply-informed inquiry weaves together several themes, each significant in itself, even more so as their relations are developed: the deep and persistent crises of capitalism, in the current phase highly financialized, and the fundamental issue of decision-making in social and economic institutions, with special attention to the elaborate growth of cooperatives of many varieties, the forms they have taken, the problems they face, and their great promise in overcoming economic crises, social malaise, and democratic dysfunction.' - Professor Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA 'Capital and the Debt Trap combines a searing critique of the unstable debt- and-profit driven system that came close to final collapse in the Great Crisis with a fine portrait of the modern cooperative alternative that exists today in Mexico, Canada, France and Spain. Are these perhaps the small creatures that will survive and flourish after the great dinosaurs are gone? Let's hope so.' - James K. Galbraith, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and University of Texas at Austin 'This book is simply a masterpiece on cooperativism for the xxi century. It outstandingly demonstrates why cooperatives are more resilient to the crisis and avoid falling into the dept trap and its implacable cohort of inhuman effects. A decisive contribution not only to economic democracy but also to Democracy as a political system.' - Yves Cabannes, University College London 'This is a timely and important book which both analyses current economic turmoil and shows how the crisis may foment new and more co-operative forms of enterprise. Anyone interested in advancing the cause of participatory ownership as one means of guarding against recurrent crises should read this book.' George Irvin, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 'This book presents a thoughtful and exciting consideration of the roles cooperatives can play and should be expected to play today . . . It deserves to be widely read and discussed within and across the boundaries that have long divided cooperative proponents and the general public.' Ian MacPherson, University of Victoria, Canada 'This book is a major step forward in understanding the working of co-operative economies. Its appearance could hardly have been more timely. At a point when the global financial system and the models of economic governance have been thrown into question, it shows how it is that co-operative financial systems are more crisis resistant than contemporary private banking, and how finance can be structured to service long term local and industrial growth rather than subject it to the imperative of short term profitability. More generally, the authors describe an architecture of co-operative governance that has not only been innovative and resilient but is particularly well suited to any post crisis world that is reshaped round multi stakeholder engagement.' - Robin Murray, LSE Global Governance and author of Co-operation in the Age of Google. 'This study on the current global crisis of capitalism is a surprising and fascinating analysis of the transformation that the current dominant world mode of production has gone through. The great merit of the book is to indicate the path to this change with great accuracy and richness of data. That is, the economy needs to return to the realm of the stakeholders. It is difficult to emphasize the appropriateness and importance of this work.' Paul Singer, University of São Paulo and Secretary of State for the Solidarity Economy of Brazil. We have been falsely made to believe that competition is the way nature and society work. However, greed and competition are dis-values imposed by corporate rule. Both nature and society work on the principles of co-operation. In Capital and the Debt Trap - Learning from Cooperatives in the Global Crisis Bruno Roelants and Claudia Sanchez Bajo show us how an economy based on co-operation can address the deep crisis we face.' - Vandana Shiva, Navdanya/Research Foundation for Science Technology & Ecology, New Delhi.

Revista del Centro de Estudios de Sociología del Trabajo, 2016

La economía mundial está actualmente constituida por "cadenas de suministro integradas, dond... more La economía mundial está actualmente constituida por "cadenas de suministro integradas, donde más de la mitad de las importaciones totales de bienes manufacturados, y más del 70 por ciento de las importaciones totales de servicios, son bienes o servicios intermedios" (Lagarde, 2014). Este estudio propone un modelo de cadenas de valor en base a la perspectiva empresarial -tradicional versus sostenible- y los mecanismos de gobernanza -centralizados versus descentralizados- que las caracterizan. El objetivo es explorar el papel que adoptan las cooperativas en las cadenas de valor de café en Guatemala y de qué manera las cadenas de valor lideradas por cooperativas pueden diferir de aquellas dirigidas por inversores. El trabajo plantea que las cooperativas aportan a la construcción de cadenas de valor sostenibles y relacionales, con una triple línea de base que incluye objetivos sociales, laborales y ambientales.

In den 90er Jahren führten die Staaten Politiken wirtschaftlicher Umstrukturierung, Privatisierun... more In den 90er Jahren führten die Staaten Politiken wirtschaftlicher Umstrukturierung, Privatisierung und Liberalisierung durch. Auf der anderen Seite kann man in der Dekade einen immer stärker globalisierten Wettbewerb feststellen, bei dem ganze Teile der nationalen Wirtschaften, sich mehr als andere auf internationaler Ebene integrieren, während die größten Betriebe sich auf Expansionspolitiken und Kooperation auf privater Ebene konzentrierten. Gleichzeitig ist die Entwicklungsfrage in die akademische Auseinandersetzung und zu den Debatten der zivilen Gesellschaft zurückgekehrt. Und die internationalen und regionalen Institutionen waren sehr aktiv in der Definition der Prioritäten und der Finanzierung von internationalen Entwicklungsprojekten und internationaler Kooperation. Der Diskurs der 90er Jahre war durch die Debatten über die "good governance" (gute Regierungsführung) und die "Konditionalitäten" geprägt in all dem, was sich auf die Finanzierung von Entwicklung bezieht. All das geschah mit einer markanten Präferenz für die Akteure, die als "Akteure des Marktes" 1 bezeichnet werden können, die Unternehmer und die Nichtregierungsorganisationen. 2 Auf der anderen Seite kann, insbesondere seit Anfang der 1990er Jahre, eine Tendenz zur Stigmatisierung der Genossenschaften als alt und überholt festgestellt werden. Jedoch erscheinen die Genossenschaften als ein grundlegendes Element in der lokalen Entwicklung, in der Forschung und in der Konstruktion von jenem, was man heute unter dem allgemeinen Namen der alternativen Globalisierung 3 beschreibt. Oft schaffen die Nichtregierungsorganisationen Genossenschaften während oder gegen Ende ihres Entwicklungsprojektes und auch Gewerkschaften tun dies, wie zum Beispiel in Brasilien. In diesem Zusammenhang müssen die Genossenschaften, wie andere kleine und mittlere Unternehmen enormen Herausforderungen begegnen, unter anderem jener der Autonomie und der unternehmerischen Größe, des Zugangs zu Kredit und der externen Konkurrenz der großen wirtschaftlichen Gruppen. Dazu kommt manchmal das Thema der staatlichen Unterstützung/ Förderung, einschließlich schwerer finanzieller Krisen. Die steigende Arbeitslosigkeit und die Flexibilisierung der Arbeit haben einen beachtlichen Druck, und auch Risiken 1 market-based actors 2 Desai, V. und R. Potter (2002) Editorial Introduction, "Agents of Development", in: The Companion to Development Studies: 471-472. 3 "alter-globalización" 10 Zu den Prinzipien siehe beispielsweise die verschiedenen Aufsätze dazu in Juhani Laurinkari / Johann Brazda (Hg.

Das Fachgebiet "Soziologie der Entwicklung" der Universität Kassel hat in interdisziplinärer und ... more Das Fachgebiet "Soziologie der Entwicklung" der Universität Kassel hat in interdisziplinärer und internationaler Zusammenarbeit begonnen, ergänzend zur Analyse des Wachstums der Destruktivkräfte, der ökologischen Krise und der sozialen Gegenwehr alternative Lebens-und Wirtschaftsformen wissenschaftlich interdisziplinär zu unterstützen und zu begleiten. Regionale Potentiale können gegenüber einer zunehmend risikoträchtigen Außenabhängigkeit analysiert und für die Stärkung solidarischer Ökonomien sowie für die Förderung regionaler Kreisläufe genutzt werden. Für Nordhessen ergab sich daraus ein gemeinsames Interesse mit dem Arbeitsbereich "Wirtschaft, Arbeit, Soziales" der Evangelischen Kirche von Kurhessen-Waldeck und mit dem DGB Nordhessen. Wir wollen uns über Potentiale der solidarischen Ökonomie und Regionalentwicklung austauschen, um zu lernen, wie wir gemeinsame Schritte auf dem Weg einer nachhaltigen Entwicklung tun können. Die zunehmende Polarisierung unserer Gesellschaften, das wachsender Heer der dauerhaft Arbeitslosen und die steigende Anzahl der prekär Beschäftigten haben international zu neuen Formen der universitären Arbeit geführt. Auch Gewerkschaften beginnen, andere Prinzipien von Arbeit und Leben zu fördern und in den Kirchen wächst die Unterstützung solidarischer Lebensformen. Unser Vorhaben ist darauf ausgerichtet: Von Beispielen Solidarischer Ökonomie in europäischen Regionen unserer Nachbarländer zu lernen, Solidarische Ökonomie und nachhaltige Regionalentwicklung in unserer Region zu stärken, Evangelische Kirche Kurhessen-Waldeck (EKKW) Referat Wirtschaft-Arbeit-Soziales Mein Name ist Martina Spohr. Ich arbeite im Referat Wirtschaft-Arbeit-Soziales der Evangelischen Kirche von Kurhessen-Waldeck. Mein Arbeitsbereich befasst sich schwerpunktmäßig mit den Folgen von Globalisierung und neoliberaler Wirtschaftspolitik hinsichtlich ihrer Wirkungen auf das gesellschaftliche Gefüge, aber auch auf die Auswirkungen für den einzelnen Menschen in seinem privaten oder beruflichen Umfeld. Dabei gilt es immer, negative Entwicklungen auf ihre Notwendigkeit zu befragen, Korrekturen anzumahnen, aber auch nach menschendienlichen Alternativen zu suchen und diese in die Diskussionen einzubringen. Meine Kolleginnen und Kollegen und ich verrichten unsere Arbeit auf der Grundlage des Evangeliums mit seinen sozialethischen Weisungen. Deshalb möchte ich an dieser Stelle ein paar wenige Worte zu Jesus von Nazaret, Gottes Sohn, sagen: Jesus war ein Mensch, der eine Alternative angeboten hat, der Korrekturen angemahnt hat und Bestehendes nicht unhinterfragt hingenommen hat. Seine Lehre sollte den Menschen dienen und ihr Zusammenleben verändern und verbessern. Er hat Neues und Anderes und Gutes angefangen und stand damit zunächst allein-aber dann kamen die, die ihm folgten und seine heilbringende Lehre trug Früchte und wanderte um die Welt.

Die Absicht dieser Publikation "Solidarische Ökonomie als Motor regionaler Ökonomie" ist es, Erfa... more Die Absicht dieser Publikation "Solidarische Ökonomie als Motor regionaler Ökonomie" ist es, Erfahrungen und Wissen mitzuteilen, einen Zusammenhang zwischen Theorie und Praxis sowie zwischen der Universität und ihrem gesellschaftlichen und wirtschaftlichen Umfeld herzustellen. Die Autoren des Bandes Beatrice Barras, von Beruf Sprachtherapeutin, und Gérard Barras, von Beruf Architekt, begannen vor etwa dreißig Jahren zusammen mit einigen anderen Personen ein Projekt mit dem Ziel, ein Dorf in der Ardèche, Region Rhône-Alpes, im Zentrum Frankreichs, wiederzubeleben. Dieses Abenteuer führte sie dazu, verschiedene Organisationen und Initiativen zu gründen. So kamen sie in Berührung mit Behörden und anderen Akteuren der sozialen und solidarischen Ökonomie in Frankreich; sie beschäftigten sich mit sozialen und wirtschaftlichen Themen, indem sie Schulen dabei unterstützten, eine Beziehung zum Markt, darunter dem japanischen Markt, aufzubauen, und stellten in diesem Zusammenhang Überlegungen zur Globalisierung der Wirtschaft an. Da sie mit Wolle arbeiten, nennen sie sich "moutons rebelles", die rebellischen Schafe! Statt wie Schafe dem von anderen vorgezeichneten, normalen Weg zu folgen, sind sie denkende Schafe, die ihren eigenen Weg gehen. Es folgt ein Aufsatz des Bürgerschulen-Netzes, einer neuen Bewegung in Frankreich, der es-auch anhand dieser Erfahrung-um die Ausbildung von Staatsbürgern geht. Schließlich der Aufsatz von Bruno Roelants. Seine Studien reichen von Anthropologie in Italien über chinesische Medizin in China bis zu Labour Studies und Analyse der internationalen Entwicklung in Holland. Er hat sich mit Ardelaine, ein nachhaltiges Unternehmensmodell? 2 Béatrice Barras 3 Ardelaine ist eine 1982 gegründete Produktionsgenossenschaft (SCOP) 4 , die, auf dem Gelände einer ehemaligen Spinnerei in der Ardèche, die lokale Wollproduktion wieder aufwerten will; sie beschäftigt heute etwa 30 Angestellte bei einem Umsatz von 1,2 Millionen Euro. Darüber hinaus ist Ardelaine auch ein Unternehmen der regionalen Entwicklung, das zwei Museen auf dem Gelände der Spinnerei eröffnet hat, sowie ein Strickatelier in einem sozial schwachen Stadtviertel von Valence. Ardelaine legt ebenso Wert auf die persönliche Entwicklung der Menschen, indem die Kooperative Zusammenarbeit und Vielseitigkeit in der Arbeit, Dezentralisierung und verantwortliche Entscheidungsfindung fördert. Schließlich handelt Ardelaine umweltfreundlich und zeigt so die drei Dimensionen in der Verantwortung eines Unternehmens für die Gesellschaft. Kann man darin eine Vorstufe eines soliden Unternehmens der Zukunft sehen? Die Geschichte von Ardelaine hat 1972 angefangen, an einem Tag, als mein Mann Gérard und ich, in der Nähe der Wollspinnerei von Saint-Pierreville, in der Ardèche, spazieren gingen. Wie viele Leute in den 70er Jahren interessierten wir uns für Wolle und waren schockiert, dass Wolle als wertlos angesehen und auf den Misthaufen geworfen wurde. Vor der Spinnerei angekommen, stellten wir fest, dass sie eingestürzt war. Die Besitzerin, eine alte Dame, wohnte noch in einem der Gebäude, aber war nicht in der Lage, sie instand zu halten und überzeugt, dass alles zu Ende sei. Diese Dame war so rührend und die Geschichte so traurig, dass wir begannen, den Ankauf der Spinnerei ins Auge zu fassen, um den gesamten Herstellungsvorgang wieder in Gang zu setzen. In der Tat hatten ökonomische Analysen bereits damals, lange vor der Globalisierung, aufgezeigt, dass der Preis eines Produktes in erster Linie durch den Handel entsteht, in geringerem Maße durch die Herstellung, während die Gewinnung des Rohstoffs fast nichts kostet. Wenn

2024: Autumn Special Issue: Housing as commons: sites of struggle and possibility, 2024

Cooperatives and the World of Work, Jul 16, 2019

Routledge eBooks, Jul 16, 2019

This chapter is grounded on the research published in the book Capital and the Debt Trap , learni... more This chapter is grounded on the research published in the book Capital and the Debt Trap , learning from cooperatives in the global crisis by Sanchez Bajo & Roelants in 2011. The book provides an explanation of the global crisis that broke out in 2007 and why cooperatives have been showing a relatively higher degree of resilience compared to other types of enterprises, generating genuine value and general wealth in a sustainable manner. In this chapter we briefly review the path that has led us up to the latest debt trap with some recent considerations on the still evolving global crisis. We will focus on issues of resilience and sustainability. Not surprisingly perhaps, the Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013 placed resilience and ‘Resilient Dynamism’ at its center. The argument here is that cooperatives are part and parcel of a new trajectory not only because they are resilient and dynamic but also because they steer away from debt traps, freeing up forces for development and enabling community change.

Third World Quarterly, Oct 1, 1999

... The European Union and Mercosur: A case of inter-regionalism. by Claudia Sanchez Bajo. ...

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 1992

Iberoamericana: Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 1999

Routledge eBooks, Oct 18, 2002

The financial crisis is destroying wealth but is also a remarkable opportunity to uncover the way... more The financial crisis is destroying wealth but is also a remarkable opportunity to uncover the ways by which debt can be used to regulate the economic system. This book uses four case studies of cooperatives to give an in-depth analysis on how they have braved the crisis and continued to generate wealth. ISBN 978-0-230-30852-7 'This elegant and deeply-informed inquiry weaves together several themes, each significant in itself, even more so as their relations are developed: the deep and persistent crises of capitalism, in the current phase highly financialized, and the fundamental issue of decision-making in social and economic institutions, with special attention to the elaborate growth of cooperatives of many varieties, the forms they have taken, the problems they face, and their great promise in overcoming economic crises, social malaise, and democratic dysfunction.' - Professor Noam Chomsky, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA 'Capital and the Debt Trap combines a searing critique of the unstable debt- and-profit driven system that came close to final collapse in the Great Crisis with a fine portrait of the modern cooperative alternative that exists today in Mexico, Canada, France and Spain. Are these perhaps the small creatures that will survive and flourish after the great dinosaurs are gone? Let's hope so.' - James K. Galbraith, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and University of Texas at Austin 'This book is simply a masterpiece on cooperativism for the xxi century. It outstandingly demonstrates why cooperatives are more resilient to the crisis and avoid falling into the dept trap and its implacable cohort of inhuman effects. A decisive contribution not only to economic democracy but also to Democracy as a political system.' - Yves Cabannes, University College London 'This is a timely and important book which both analyses current economic turmoil and shows how the crisis may foment new and more co-operative forms of enterprise. Anyone interested in advancing the cause of participatory ownership as one means of guarding against recurrent crises should read this book.' George Irvin, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 'This book presents a thoughtful and exciting consideration of the roles cooperatives can play and should be expected to play today . . . It deserves to be widely read and discussed within and across the boundaries that have long divided cooperative proponents and the general public.' Ian MacPherson, University of Victoria, Canada 'This book is a major step forward in understanding the working of co-operative economies. Its appearance could hardly have been more timely. At a point when the global financial system and the models of economic governance have been thrown into question, it shows how it is that co-operative financial systems are more crisis resistant than contemporary private banking, and how finance can be structured to service long term local and industrial growth rather than subject it to the imperative of short term profitability. More generally, the authors describe an architecture of co-operative governance that has not only been innovative and resilient but is particularly well suited to any post crisis world that is reshaped round multi stakeholder engagement.' - Robin Murray, LSE Global Governance and author of Co-operation in the Age of Google. 'This study on the current global crisis of capitalism is a surprising and fascinating analysis of the transformation that the current dominant world mode of production has gone through. The great merit of the book is to indicate the path to this change with great accuracy and richness of data. That is, the economy needs to return to the realm of the stakeholders. It is difficult to emphasize the appropriateness and importance of this work.' Paul Singer, University of São Paulo and Secretary of State for the Solidarity Economy of Brazil. We have been falsely made to believe that competition is the way nature and society work. However, greed and competition are dis-values imposed by corporate rule. Both nature and society work on the principles of co-operation. In Capital and the Debt Trap - Learning from Cooperatives in the Global Crisis Bruno Roelants and Claudia Sanchez Bajo show us how an economy based on co-operation can address the deep crisis we face.' - Vandana Shiva, Navdanya/Research Foundation for Science Technology & Ecology, New Delhi.

Revista del Centro de Estudios de Sociología del Trabajo, 2016

1946 sprach ein schwedischer Bischof vom "Durchschnittsengländer, der gewisse konstitutionelle Sc... more 1946 sprach ein schwedischer Bischof vom "Durchschnittsengländer, der gewisse konstitutionelle Schwierigkeiten hat, ein echtes Interesse an Dingen zu entwickeln, die außerhalb Englands geschehen" und fuhr dann fort, dass die Person, die im Zentrum seiner Rede stand-George Bell, Bischof von Chichester-eine Ausnahme von dieser Regel bilde. 2 Der Bischof war in vielen Beziehungen, darunter seine Haltung zugunsten eines neuen, vereinten Europa, ein ungewöhnlicher Mann. Schon 1939 kurz vor Ausbruch des Zweiten Weltkriegs begann er von der Notwendigkeit einer radikalen Veränderung zu sprechen und trat während des Krieges dafür ein, dass ein europäischer Bundesstaat zu einem der Ziele, für die Großbritannien kämpfte, erklärt würde-in der Sprache der damaligen Zeit: zu einem Friedensziel. Und auch zu Beginn des Kalten Krieges forderte er die Gründung der "Vereinigten Staaten von Europa". Seine letzte öffentliche Stellungnahme zu dieser Frage war 1950 eine Rede im Parlament, in der er den Schumannplan unterstützte. Wie wir jetzt wissen, ist Europa aus dem Schumannplan entstanden. Die Position eines Bischofs zu internationalen Angelegenheiten Bevor wir auf die Ursprünge und Konsequenzen dieser außergewöhnlichen Kampagne eingehen, könnte man in unserem materialistischen Zeitalter die Frage stellen, welche Bedeutung die Meinung eines Bischofs haben kann. In einer Rede vor dem Royal Institute of International Affairs (RIIA), einer sehr einflussreichen Institution des britischen informellen Staats 3 , beschrieb Bell die Rolle 1 Mein Dank gilt Dr. Andrew Chandler, dem Direktor des George Bell Institute (www.georgebellinstitute.org.uk) und an Dr. Katharina Kunter dafür, dass sie eine frühere Version dieses Aufsatzes las und kommentierte. 2 Bishop Yngve Brilioth zitiert in R.C.D. Jasper, George Bell, Bishop of Chichester (London: OUP, 1967), S. 320. 3 Das 1920 gegründete RIIA entstand aus informellen Treffen von Teilnehmern der Pariser Friedenskonferenz von 1919. Es erhielt großzügige Finanzierung von Teilen des Finanz-und Industriekapitals; zu den Mitgliedern gehörten Herausgeber und Eigentümer von Tageszeitungen, führende Politiker aller traditionellen Parteien, aktive oder pensionierte Stabsoffiziere der Streitkräfte und Wissenschaftler. Das Institut fungierte als ständiges Forum für den Elitendiskurs über internationale Beziehungen und untersuchte außenpolitische Themen. Wie Christopher Brewin schreibt, hatte es die Aufgabe "die Regierung interessierende Fra-gen zu beantworten und speziell die Elitenmeinung im Ausland zu beobachten und zu beeinflussen". Zwischen 1939 und 1943 erhielt Chatham House vom Außenministerium eine Finanzierung um den Foreign Research and Press Service (FRPS) abzuwickeln; 1943 wurde der FRPS als Foreign Research Department Teil des Staatsapparats.

Co-Operatives in a Post-Growth Era, 2014

This chapter is grounded on the research published in the book Capital and the Debt Trap , learni... more This chapter is grounded on the research published in the book Capital and the Debt Trap , learning from cooperatives in the global crisis by Sanchez Bajo & Roelants in 2011. The book provides an explanation of the global crisis that broke out in 2007 and why cooperatives have been showing a relatively higher degree of resilience compared to other types of enterprises, generating genuine value and general wealth in a sustainable manner. In this chapter we briefly review the path that has led us up to the latest debt trap with some recent considerations on the still evolving global crisis. We will focus on issues of resilience and sustainability. Not surprisingly perhaps, the Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013 placed resilience and ‘Resilient Dynamism’ at its center. The argument here is that cooperatives are part and parcel of a new trajectory not only because they are resilient and dynamic but also because they steer away from debt traps, freeing up forces for development and enabling community change.

Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to crimina... more Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

Cooperatives and Positive Peace speech and slides, 17 October 2019, International Conference Cooperatives for Development, 2019

This speech and slides presentation provides an overview of the evolution of studies on peace and... more This speech and slides presentation provides an overview of the evolution of studies on peace and cooperatives. On the one hand, what is peace and how studies and research on peace have evolved; on the other hand, where do cooperatives appear in this subject matter and what may be their contribution to peace building. It was given on 17 October 2019 at the International Conference Cooperatives for Development, Kigali, Rwanda.

Cooperatives offer great potential in providing for common needs and aspirations. In the vast ava... more Cooperatives offer great potential in providing for common needs and aspirations. In the vast available literature on their experiential practices, they provide for systemic paths for development trajectories and address 'intersecting inequalities'. Yet, being at the same time association and enterprise, they face collective action challenges that need special attention. In the first part, we will find out the place that the Post 2015 Millennium Development Framework has given to cooperatives. Selected cases are brought in to highlight what cooperatives offer in terms of approach to sustainable, peaceful and inclusive development. A discussion on cooperatives' potential and challenges for the Post 2015 Development goals follows.

This presentation was on powerpoint and took place at CASC, within the SSHRC Congress in Canada.

This is part of a series of think pieces by scholars and practitioners working on a broad range o... more This is part of a series of think pieces by scholars and practitioners working on a broad range of issues within the field of Social and Solidarity Economy. The series is being published in conjunction with the UNRISD conference “Potential and Limits of Social and Solidarity Economy”. The conference took place on 6-8 May 2013 in collaboration with the International Labour Organization and the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service.

2016 Value chains and cooperatives (in particular in coffee). Peer reviewed article originally wr... more 2016 Value chains and cooperatives (in particular in coffee). Peer reviewed article originally written in English and presented by Claudia Sanchez Bajo at a CASC Conference in Canada. Translated by Claudia Sanchez Bajo and published as peer reviewed article by the Revista del Centro de Estudios de Sociologia del Trabajo as “Las cooperativas en las cadenas de valor del café en Guatemala: su contribución al logro de objetivos sociales, laborales y ambientales”, by Claudia
Sanchez Bajo and Bruno Silvestre, Nr 8 Abril 2016, pages 35 to 74, ISSN 1852-4648, http://home.econ.uba.ar/economicas/cesot-numeros-publicados and
http://home.econ.uba.ar/economicas/sites/default/files/u14/Revista%208.pd

This Conference paper of 2015 is in the process of peer reviewed publication. It was presented at... more This Conference paper of 2015 is in the process of peer reviewed publication. It was presented at the ILO and ICA Conference on the Future of Work and Cooperatives in Antalya, November 2015. It traces the evolution of the concepts of cooperative enterprise and of work in the 20th century.

ARGENTINE-BRAZILIAN INTEGRATION IN A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Working Paper Series No. 131, 1992

It was often alleged that the most important obstacle to integration was the lack of political wi... more It was often alleged that the most important obstacle to integration was the lack of political will.... This study attempts at analysing the interrelation between economics and politics in the integration process during the different historical periods, and the periods of economic integration, cooperation and ‘concertaci6n‘ and their impacts on the process. Secondly, it deals with the formulation and implementation of the current Programme of Integration and Cooperation since 1985, and finally, the relationship between democracy and integration. The main objective is to identify the limits and obstacles in a process whose central aim is to create effective, stable and symmetrical interdependencies among the countries in the subregion.

This chapter is part of a PhD thesis at ISS in The Hague, part of the Erasmus University, The Net... more This chapter is part of a PhD thesis at ISS in The Hague, part of the Erasmus University, The Netherlands. The sectoral focus is not intended to provide a generalisation for a regional integration process as a whole. The choice is to concentrate on two similar sectors with important economies of scale, which are economically prominent and politically sensitive in the countries concerned, thereby likely to react to, and influence, regional integration policies. Given the lack of general theory and scarce analysis of the sub-national level and cross-national co-operation (as examined in Chapter 1), a sectoral focus is considered as a suitable starting ground for this research. Besides, the meso-level perspective is intended to reveal agendas and bargains (in Susan Strange’s words). The reasons for the selected approach and focus are expounded in Chapter 2.
The study reaches several conclusions as regards Mercosur’s regionalism during the period researched, and in particular over its sustainability and the role of business actors in the process.
First, regionalism is a regulatory process by which regional patterns of relations may be gradually institutionalised. These patterns would then tend to be co-ordinated in a regular fashion, embodying particular values and normative rules, and possibly formalised into new structures. Through a sectoral and meso-level vantage point, Mercosur’s regionalism is seen as a process based on certain values, conceptualised under the name of “open regionalism” and crystallised on the grounds of a coalition of interests (state and business). Such vantage point guided the understanding of regionalism: i.e., as a regulatory and policy-making process, through which regional patterns of relations enter a stage of institutionalisation in order to achieve sustainability.
Second, Mercosur’s success and sustainability has rested both on a coalition of interests as well as of actors’ participation in the process. In addition, although the general portrait of Mercosur is one of trade success and low degree of institutionalisation, a sectoral focus at the meso-level, based on a grounded qualitative analysis, has provided a qualified and more accountable view. The evidence showed that the sustainability of the Mercosur case has rested to a significant degree on the involvement and participation of business actors in various forms and degrees.
Third, as some interviewees asserted in 1995, the core of Mercosur’s regionalism was not about trade. At the end of the century, this understanding has been reaffirmed by academia. As discussed in chapter 1, the 1990s regionalism is ‘new’ because its core issues are not related to trade.
Third, the sustainability of regionalism appeared as constructed on a political-economic basis. On the one side, sectoral restructuring was done at the regional level through the enlargement of business scales and a sharper definition of business scope, with some holdings becoming core firms within each sector. Regionalism has been instrumental both to states and business in the 1990s context of globalisation of economic restructuring and of an emerging type of world-wide oligopolistic competition. This regional restructuring was embedded in the 1990s’ globalisation. During the research, the focus of Mercosur’s regionalism was to ease flows that were increasingly internalised by holdings and big economic groups, in terms of production, distribution and services, as well as information and management. On the other side, it involved a necessary correlation through regional norms and mechanisms to ensure the certainty of constant regular flows within Mercosur, be they capital, goods or services. Generalisations based on these two sectors, which have many features of their own, should be avoided until other economic sectors are studied. What is important to stress, is that any changes in systems of production need to be accompanied by appropriate co-ordinating institutions to suit the needs of emerging core firms or groups.
Thence, and fourth, during the period under study, Mercosur’s regionalism reflected a mixed-partnership in policy-making between state-officials and business-actors, within broader political regimes described as ‘delegative’ democracies by O’Donnell. The emerging regional policy networks have appeared sustainable, as long as their co-ordinating capability is not threatened to an absolute degree by e.g., external financial shocks. Contrary to the idea that the regional integration process has taken place under no supra-national authority combined with a loss of state co-ordination through the unravelling of ‘regulation’, a delegation from the state to business actors to define regional regulation concerning their industrial sectors could be observed. This included issues such as the CET, competition rules, harmonisation of technical norms, mechanisms to solve conflicts, etc., and tended to emerge through a negotiated convergence at the sectoral level. In this regard, states retained an important role i.e. in regard to the enforcement of the rules agreed. While states’ competition for investment influenced a debate on harmonisation of taxation, environment, and labour policies, which dealt with systemic costs to industry, business actors engaged in the building of sectoral regulation and governance through the supply of supranational institutions (norms, agreements, mechanisms of decision-making and conflict-solution) that could enforce common norms at the regional level.
Theoretical and policy/making implications and future directions for the study of regionalism in the new century are expounded in Chapter 10, which ends with brief commentaries on two issues rising through the analysis and writing of the thesis: a) the market as institution, and b) business scales and scope as underlining forces of the ‘globalisation’ of a capitalist net-economy.