Mondragon Cooperatives and the Utopian Legacy
Economic Democracy in Global Capitalism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6415015 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Anjel Errasti (0000-0001-9245-4293, Institute of Cooperative Law and Social Economy (GEZKI), University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) , Leioa , Spain), Ignacio Bretos (0000-0002-4941-2028, Universidad de Zaragoza), Jon Las Heras (0000-0001-9148-2516, University of the Basque Country) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 107-130 |
| Publication date | 2025-05-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Analyse & Kritik (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0171-5860 • E-ISSN: 2365-9858 |
| Publisher | De Gruyter (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/auk-2025-2001 |
| OpenAlex | W4410930486 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 33 |
Mondragon’s worker-owned-and-governed cooperatives are rooted in the socialist utopian tradition of envisioning alternative economic organizations designed to promote worker well-being, workplace democracy, and community embeddedness. For many years, they have challenged capitalist logic and hierarchical power structures while remaining economically viable and democratically governed, countering the predictions of degeneration theories. However, recent transformation of Mondragon’s largest industrial cooperatives into multinational coopitalist hybrids, maintaining a cooperative core of worker-members while operating capitalist subsidiaries with wage workers lacking membership rights, pose risks to their democratic structures. This paradox highlights the tension between economic survival in global capitalism and cooperative identity. By examining Mondragon’s trajectory, the paper questions whether internationalization can coexist with economic democracy or whether global expansion inevitably compromises cooperative principles, forcing adaptation to market-driven imperatives. Understanding these tensions is crucial for the future of economic democracy and the development of sustainable alternative organizations
Business · Capitalism · Democracy · Economic democracy · Economic system · Economics · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Cooperative Studies and Economics · Economic Theory and Institutions · Law · Political Economy and Marxism
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Challenges and opportunities for the regeneration of multinational worker cooperatives
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The Internationalization of Mondragon
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The Mondragon Cooperatives and Global Capitalism
The Viability of Cooperatives
Robert Owen, utopian socialism and social transformation
With or without class
Multinational Expansion of Worker Cooperatives and Their Employment Practices
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 5 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |