logo

Cooperatives and other fields of law

No. 4 (2022)

TRANSCENDENCE OF COOPERATIVES IN SUSTAINABLE SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN THE BASQUE COUNTRY

  • Waleska Sigüenza
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36128/972cck85
Submitted
August 22 2025
Published
22-08-2025

Abstract

The main reference of the Social Economy (SE) is the cooperative enterprise. In the Basque Country (BC), cooperatives have always represented a significant percentage of SE entities. In addition, the BCis among the highest-ranked territories in the world in terms of industrial entrepreneurial development in SE. Traditionally, Basque cooperatives have been concerned with meeting the needs of their members and with their active participation, taking into account the community around them. The values and principles governing these companies have been the economic driving force of the BC evenin times of economic crisis. These values and principles arekey instruments for working together to achieve the purposes of several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Proof of this are the cooperative principles that, for more than half a century haveguided Mondragon Corporation Cooperative (MCC), a world benchmark of the Basque Cooperative Movement (BCM). This research aims to analyse the features of the BCM and its impact on the sustainable socio-economic development in the BC from the perspective of the 2030 UN Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN2030 Agenda).

References

  1. ALTUNA GABILONDO, L. (2008). La experiencia cooperativa de Mondragon. Una síntesis general. Eskoriatza: Lanki, Instituto de Estudios Cooperativos.
    View in Google Scholar
  2. ALTUNA, R. & URTEAGA, E. (2018). El proceso de institucionalización de la experiencia cooperativa Mondragón, Lan Harremanak, 40, 138-162. https://doi.org/10.1387/lan-harremanak.20277
    View in Google Scholar
  3. ARANA LANDIN, S. (2010). La Economía Social a la vanguardia de la Responsabilidad Social de la empresa, Revista Vasca de Economía Social GEZKI, nº 6, pp.72 y 73.
    View in Google Scholar
  4. ARANA LANDIN, S. (2020). Social Economy as the means to help achieve the targets of Sustainable Development Goal 14, Sustainibility, 12 (11), 4529. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12114529
    View in Google Scholar
  5. BARANDIARAN, X. & LEZAUN J. (2017). The Mondragón Experience. In Michie J., Blasi, J. & BorzagaC. (eds.): The Oxford Handbook of Mutual, Co-Operative, and Co-Owned Business. United Kindong: Oxford University Press.
    View in Google Scholar
  6. BATTAGLIA, M., GRAGNANI, P., & ANNESI, N. (2020). Moving Businesses toward Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Evidence from anItalian “Benefit-For-Nature”Corporation. Entrepreneurship Research Journal, 10 (4). https://doi.org/10.1515/erj-2019-0305
    View in Google Scholar
  7. BIRCHALL, J., & KETILSON HAMMOND, L. (2009).Resilience of the cooperative businessmodel in times of crisis. Geneva:International Labour Organisation.
    View in Google Scholar
  8. BORZAGA, C., GALERA, G., FRANCHINI B., CHIOMENTO S., NOGALES, R. & CARINI, C. (2020). Social enterprises and their ecosystems in Europe. Comparative synthesis report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
    View in Google Scholar
  9. CONFEDERACIÓN EMPRESARIAL ESPAÑOLA DE LA ECONOMÍA SOCIAL-CEPES (2019). La contribución de la Economía Social española a los ODS. 4º INFORME sobre la experiencia de las empresas españolas de Economía Social en la Cooperación al Desarrollo 2017-2019. Madrid.
    View in Google Scholar
  10. CONFEDERACIÓN EMPRESARIAL ESPAÑOLA DE LA ECONOMÍA SOCIAL-CEPES, (2020) “Análisis del impacto socioeconómico de los valores y principios de la Economía Social en España”. Madrid.
    View in Google Scholar
  11. COMMITTEE FOR THE PROMOTION AND ADVANCEMENT OF COOPERATIVES (2020). Transforming our world: A cooperative 2030 series.Available at: http://www.copac.coop/digital-library/#copacstudies
    View in Google Scholar
  12. DE LA FUENTE COSGAYA, M. (2020).La FunciónSocial de las Cooperativas VascasGIZAEKOA -Revista Vasca de Economía Social, 17, 131-180.
    View in Google Scholar
  13. DÍAZ, M., MARCUELLO, C. & NOGALES, R. (2020). Social enterprises and their ecosystems in Europe. Country report SPAIN. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
    View in Google Scholar
  14. ELIO, E. (2004). MCC, el paradigma del desarrollo del primer grupo industrial en España a través del cooperativismo de trabajo asociado.Colección Mediterráneo Económico: Economía Social. La actividad económica al serviciode las personas, 6, 335-352.
    View in Google Scholar
  15. EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE (2017). The Opinion of EESC on“The External Dimension of the Social Economy”. OJ C345/58.
    View in Google Scholar
  16. GUTBERLET, J. (2021). Grassroots waste picker organizations addressing the UN sustainable development goals.WorldDevelopment, 138, pp. 105-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.worlddev.2020.105195
    View in Google Scholar
  17. INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT, EUROPEAN COMMISSION(2018). New European consensus on development: Our world, our dignity, our future Joint statement by the Council and the representatives of the governments of the member states meeting within the Council, the European Parliament, and the European Commission.Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.doi:10.2841/741554.
    View in Google Scholar
  18. INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATIVE ALLIANCE & MUTUO (2018). Global Policy & advocacy guide. Available at: https://crm.ica.coop/sites/all/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=28523&qid=1054519
    View in Google Scholar
  19. MARTÍNEZ CHARTERINA, A. (2015). Economía social, crisis y valores. EnBretos Fernández, I. y Pérez de Uralde, J.M. (Coords.): Economía Social Vasca y Crisis Económica. Análisis de su evolución socioeconómica entre 2009 y 2013, pp. 29-33. Donostia-San Sebastián: Observatorio Vasco de Economía Social.
    View in Google Scholar
  20. MARTÍNEZ-LEON, I. M., OLMEDO-CIFUENTES, I., MARTÍNEZ-VICTORIA, M.C., & ARCAS-LARIO, N. (2020). Leadership style and gender: A Study of Spanish cooperatives. Sustainability 12 (12), 5107 https://doi.org/10.3390/su12125107M
    View in Google Scholar
  21. MOLINA, F., & MIGUEZ, A. (2008). The originsof Mondragon: Catholic co-operativism and social movement in a Basque valley (1941–59). Social History, 33(3), 284–298. https://doi.org/10.1080/03071020802268314
    View in Google Scholar
  22. MONZÓN J.L. & CHAVES AVILA R. (Directors) (2017). Recent evolutions of the Social Economy in the European Union, report elaborated by CIRIEC-International. Brussel, BE: European Economic and Social Committee.
    View in Google Scholar
  23. OLABARRI GORTAZAR, I. (1985). Tradiciones cooperativas vascas, in J. Intxausti, ed., Euskal Herria. Historia y sociedad. San Sebastián: Caja Laboral Popular, 1985, pp. 298-307.
    View in Google Scholar
  24. ORMAETXEA, J. M. (1994), Los principios cooperativos de la experiencia. Mondragón: Otalora
    View in Google Scholar
  25. PINEDA OFRENEO, R. (2019). Engendering Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) in the Context of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.Philippine Journal of Social Development,12, p. 115-136.
    View in Google Scholar
  26. THIPAKORN, S. (2019). Cooperation of Cooperatives: Partnership towards SDGs. In Holzhacker, R.,& Agussalim, D. (Eds.).Sustainable Development Goals in Southeast Asia and ASEAN(pp. 382-402)Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004391949_018
    View in Google Scholar
  27. UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) (2012). The Future We Want. Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly adopted on 27th July 2012. Available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/731519
    View in Google Scholar
  28. UNGA (United Nations General Assembly) (2012). The Future We Want. Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly adopted on 27th July 2012. Available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/731519U
    View in Google Scholar
  29. WANYAMA, F.O. (2016). Cooperatives and the Sustainable Development Goals: A Contribution to the Post-2015 Development Debate. International Labour Organization and International Co-operative Alliance. Brussels, Belgium; Geneve, Switzerland
    View in Google Scholar

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.