States and Markets in Co-operative Development: An Appraisal of African’s Political Economy of Organised Solidarities.

This panel presentations and roundtable of early career researchers seek to tell the story of co-operatives as bedrock of African solidarity. It captures modern co-operatives as cogent examples of organised African solidarities. As currently obtains in many African countries, co-operatives are offshoots of indigenous social solidarity initiatives with pre-colonial roots. It is on record that co-operatives played pivotal roles in pre-colonial and colonial African societies and were key instruments in anti-colonial agitations. Despite their historical significance, and to curb their relevance, colonial administrations imposed regulatory frameworks, leading to creation of dysfunctional co-operative political economies. In recent times, aims of African governments to harness co-operatives for sustainable development are encumbered by deficient legal and administrative frameworks. These anomalies persist, and perpetuates a cycle which hinders the attainment of full potential of African co-operatives. Although governance has transited from colonial administration to self-rule, dysfunctional foundations of political economy earlier laid for co-operatives remains largely intact. Thus many African governments approbate to partner co-operatives as partners for sustainable development. Conversely, the same African governments reprobate by maintaining deficient legal and administrative frameworks earlier identified. Furthermore, much of research and discussions on African co-operatives unintentionally ignores, the cogent rationality of the interface of politics and economics. This trend preserve the root causes of problems inherent in African co-operatives. Therefore, a roundtable is proposed to dissect and proffer remedial for the identified problem. This will be addressed from two perspectives: (a) appraisal of colonial and neo-colonial; and (b) Evaluation of the evolution of administrative and legal policies.

Format: This in-person event will be proceeded by an online preparatory session on the 12th of July, 2024.
Keywords: Administrative policies, Co-operative development, State-politics, Market-economics, Legal frameworks

How to apply

Prospective participants should please provide answers to the following questions in a single PDF file, and send same to [email protected] not later than 30th April, 2024.

• First name:
• Surname:
• Gender:
• Email address:
• Institutional affiliation:
• The city and country from where you will travel to Moshi, Tanzania:
• Is an abstract where you are a speaker/co-speaker accepted for presentation at the main conference:
• Are you applying for travel support from YSI:
• If yes, please explain you reason and motivation for applying for travel support from YSI (maximum of 200 words):
• Do you have another means of sourcing travel support outside of YSI:

Thank you.