Episode notes
The podcast discusses enhancing member participation in cooperative enterprises. The guest speaker, Simon Pek, is an expert on organizational democracy. Pek became interested in cooperatives through his experiences with Mountain Equipment Co-op in Canada.
Pek argues that democratic member control is the most important cooperative principle, as it enables members to ensure the organization is governed in their interests. Pek's paper proposes using "deliberative mini-publics" - randomly selected groups of members who deliberate on key issues - to improve member participation in large cooperatives.
Pek also gives examples of cooperatives experimenting with these concepts, such as holding lotteries to pick board members or forming member advisory councils. The debate focuses on the significance of education and precautions against exploit ...
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