CIRIEC International is launching a new transversal working group focused on Cooperatives of Public Service (Coordinators: Timothée Duverger & Thomas Perroud). It aims to explore and revitalize the role of cooperatives as innovative vehicles for delivering public services. Building on the historical legacy of cooperatives—especially their origins in the 19th century in providing essential services—and their contemporary resurgence, the group seeks to address a critical gap in research: the understudied potential of cooperatives to reconcile commercial viability with democratic governance in public service provision.
The project will investigate how cooperatives can offer an alternative to traditional public institutions or private enterprises, emphasizing values like citizen participation, equitable governance, and reinvestment of profits for collective benefit. Through historical analysis, comparative case studies, and theoretical reflection, the group will identify successful governance models and propose actionable frameworks for broader adoption.
The initiative also aims to foster international collaboration, disseminating findings through publications, conferences, and public engagement to inspire both academic discourse and practical implementation. The ultimate goal is to position cooperatives as a sustainable, democratic, and efficient model for modern public service delivery.
Among the issues suggested for the contributions:
- Historical overview of the place of collective services in the first cooperatives
- Existing cooperative practices in different fields of public action
- Models used and how each model reconciles commercial viability and democracy
- Governance rules of certain successful public service cooperatives across sectors in order to identify best practices or replicable models
Detailed program available here
Call for expressions of interest
Register your interest by completing the following form
Deadline: May 15, 2026
CIRIEC International invites all interested individuals and organizations to join this important discussion.
