The co-operative principle as the basis of direct democracy and political culture in Switzerland

by Dr phil. René Roca, Research Institute for Direct Democracy (www.fidd.ch)

The co-operative principle is a central foundation of the Swiss federal state. As an economic organisational form of self-help, the cooperative is not just a mere legal form, but an actual form of society. It is always anchored locally and embedded in Switzerland’s federalist-subsidiary political system. The members of the co-operative decide democratically on all issues that arise; everyone has a vote. This is a central root of the later development of direct democracy. The purpose of a cooperative is always to optimise the use of a common cause for all members and for the association. The forms of utilisation can vary, but the purpose should always serve the common good – the bonum commune – enshrined in natural law.

Dominion and co-operative

The Swiss historian Adolf Gasser (1903–1985) particularly emphasised the importance of the co-operative principle. For him, European history was strongly characterised by the contrast between two different attitudes, namely domination and cooperative society. In these phenomena, Gasser emphasised, there are two opposing worlds that are subject to completely different laws of development: the world of state systems built from above and the world of state systems built from below, or in other words: the world of communal unfreedom and the world of communal freedom. In his main work “Gemeindefreiheit als Rettung Europas” (1947), he explains:
  “The contrast between rule and co-operative society is perhaps the most important contrast known to social history. The contrast between the authoritarian state and the social state is about absolutely fundamental things: namely the elementary foundations of human community life.”
  Gasser goes on to emphasise that it is the co-operative principle of order that leads to a communal community ethic:
  “Whereas in the authoritarian-bureaucratic state politics and morality are on fundamentally different levels, in the social-communal state they belong inseparably together. Accordingly, the co-operative principle of order, as it underlies the bottom-up structure of the community, is appropriately referred to as ‘communal community ethics’.”

The importance
of the co-operative principle

The co-operative principle has not only applied in Switzerland since the founding of the federal state in 1848, but has been an integral part of the Swiss ethos for centuries. This attitude is characterised by the three “selves”: self-help, self-responsibility and self-determination.
  In most cases, the co-operatives emerged from the medieval land constitution or, in other words, from the “medieval commons”. These early references to the co-operative system are central to understanding the Swiss state. The Swiss historian Wolfgang von Wartburg (1914–1997) wrote about this in his “History of Switzerland” published in 1951:
  “These small, natural, self-governing communities have become the school and breeding ground of Swiss freedom and democracy and still are today. However, the most extensive and viable market co-operatives existed in the mountains, where the common alpine and livestock farming encompassed entire valleys.”
  In Switzerland, the commons were central to the general spread and organisation of co-operatives. These were areas of pasture, forest and wasteland that had to be open to all. Allmenden were established in such a way that the inhabitants of a settlement association – one or more villages, hamlets or groups of farms – set aside a certain area for collective economic use. This created a threefold division for a farming family: In addition to the arable land and the residential area with farmsteads and gardens, the commons represented a third zone that was managed collectively. From the early Middle Ages onwards, the European nobility attempted to determine or at least influence the constitution of the commons. However, in many places, including in what is now Switzerland, the co-operative principle was able to survive. Due to the diversity of local conditions, a variety of co-operative forms developed over time.

The formation
of the citizens’ communes

In the Middle Ages, the commons created an important foundation for communal activity in the geographical area of present-day Switzerland and ensured order and security with their rules. In addition to the commons, which were generally available to all agricultural villages until the 18th century, special forms of co-operatives emerged that served certain other communal purposes.
  In this way, the co-operatives developed a community-building force without which Switzerland could not have become a nation of the will. In the course of the late Middle Ages and the early modern period, village and valley co-operatives took on other community tasks in addition to their traditional areas. These included the maintenance of roads and footbridges, hydraulic engineering, water supply, the construction of church buildings and the duty to care for the poor. The village and valley co-operatives thus slowly developed into village and valley communities, the foundation of the later federal state.
  Von Wartburg writes about this process:

“The Swiss ideal of freedom stems from this human reality, not from an abstract idea […] Thus the formation of the Swiss state stands in contrast to all other state formations in Europe. It is not based on the will to political unity, but on the contrary on the will to preserve the original uniqueness and freedom of the members, and thus to preserve diversity. Its unity does not come about through superior power or uniformity, but through free co-operation on common tasks.”

The co-operatives thus became village citizens and the previous village co-operatives developed into village communities. By 1798, this led to the creation of the burgher communities that still exist in many cantons today.
  The Helvetic period (1798–1803) led to the division of the commune into a residents’ commune and a citizens’ commune. This intensified the division of the commons. Some commons became leased or privately owned, others were claimed by the residents’ communes, or private-law commons were formed. The commons and civic communes are still an important traditional asset in Switzerland today and create human links to the history and culture of a community.
  Without the tradition of the commons and the “co-operative spirit” described above, the founding of the federal state in Switzerland in 1848 would not have taken place. This “co-operative spirit” is always rooted in the small area, i.e. in the small, clearly organised spatial unit of the municipality, which is based on the co-operative principle. Only in such a spatial unit can a lively co-operative self-administration develop. This historical dimension of Swiss municipalities is always ignored in current merger discussions or dismissed as a “soft factor” in an ahistorical manner.

The co-operative
movement of the 19th century

Building on the Swiss traditions of the commons and cooperatives described above, a broad cooperative movement developed in the course of the 19th century, particularly with increasing industrialisation. Trade unions, workers’ associations (Grütliverein) and left-wing parties were often its main supporters. This movement – in Switzerland as in Europe – penetrated new areas, including industrial ones, but not without preserving the basic co-operative principles. In addition to the traditional agricultural co-operatives, production, consumer, housing, credit and savings co-operatives emerged.
  The co-operative as a legal form was enshrined in the Swiss Code of Obligations in 1881 and became increasingly popular. The number of co-operatives in Switzerland rose massively around the turn of the century (1883: 373; 1890: 1551; 1910: 7,113). The main reason for this was the recurring crises in the capitalist economy. With the great crisis of the 1930s, the number of new co-operatives rose sharply again, reaching a peak of over 12,000 in 1957. Just under half of the co-operatives were agricultural in nature, with new additions in service sectors such as the electricity industry. After the Second World War, building and housing co-operatives were founded and promoted particularly frequently.
  In the 1980s, the US political scientist Elinor Ostrom (1933–2012) analysed the “constitution of the commons” in a fundamental global study. She was the first woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Economics for her work in 2009. Based on historical examples from various continents, she demonstrates the significance of the co-operative principle for the present day. Using the commons as an example, she demonstrates how people organise themselves in the face of scarce natural resources in order to solve complex problems collectively. Ostrom concludes from her comprehensive studies at that, in many cases, cooperation between those directly affected is better than state control or privatisation for the good management of local commons resources. She thus impressively honours the cooperative principle.

Future of the co-operative

In Switzerland, the co-operative principle continues to enjoy a high level of trust, although the number of co-operatives has fallen in recent years. In addition, the original co-operative concept is coming under increasing pressure from large-scale co-operatives. It is important to discuss the co-operative approach more widely again and to teach it at schools and universities. Ostrom found examples of the commons as a form of co-operative all over the world, in many cultures and countries. The co-operative thus proves to be a sensible economic model based on natural law, which democratically involves the participants and thus also represents a model for the development of a self-determined political culture.
  Together with the militia system1, the three “selves” ensure that a special democratic culture is practised. In many respects, the cooperative idea has thus historically been the central point of reference and foundation for the emergence and development of direct democracy and the organisation of the Swiss federal state. Switzerland is the only country to have this important historical reference in its name in the form of the “Swiss Confederation”.
  Co-operatives can be “schools for democracy” in a broad sense. These are all reasons why the cooperative idea has been part of UNESCO’s intangible world cultural heritage since 2016. This recognition also supports the research findings of Elinor Ostrom. •



1 The term militia system refers to a widespread organisational principle in Swiss public life that is based on the republican idea that every capable citizen should take on public office and duties on a part-time or voluntary basis. (Historical Dictionary of Switzerland, own translation)

International Year of Cooperatives 2025

gl. On 19 June 2024, the UN General Assembly once again declared 2025 the "Year of Cooperatives", for the second time since 2012. The UN Year of Cooperatives 2025 was launched in New Delhi at the end of November at the world conference of the international cooperative movement ACI (Alliance Coopérative Internationale) under the motto “Cooperatives build a better world”. Around 3000 representatives of cooperatives from 100 countries were present. UN Secretary-General António Guterres took part, as did the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Gilbert F. Houngbo. The event was organised by the Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) and 18 other cooperatives in India. The conference brought together global leaders in the cooperative movement to explore the challenges and opportunities facing the cooperative movement with the aim of building a fairer and more sustainable world. The globally important cooperative movement of the Spanish Basque Country was also present with a large delegation, including government representatives, the Institutes for Cooperative Studies of the three Basque universities Lanki (University of Mondragón), Gezki (EHU/UPV) and Deusto, and the world’s largest cooperative Mondragón.
  This year, the idea of cooperatives is to be strengthened worldwide. Already, 12 % of the world’s population are members of a total of three million cooperatives. The aim is to promote a fairer and more equal business model that can also achieve the UN’s sustainability goals for 2030.

Source: TULankide 631 Mondragón

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