Emeritus Professor of History, Specialist in Co-operative Studies

Director, Co-operative Initiative for Peace and Social Inclusion

Centre for Co-operative and Community-Based Economy, University of Victoria

Centre for the Study of Co-operatives Scholar, University of Saskatchewan

 

From its beginnings as formal co-operative enterprises in the midnineteenth century, the co-operative movement has demonstrated a commitment to the cause of peace, but what is intended has varied from time to time and with the dominant context. Ian MacPherson’s presentation examines the co-operative approaches to peace, discussing the various ways in which the movement intentionally and unintentionally has sought to foster peace in communities, across regions, and between nations. It concludes with some observations on how it might be argued that co-operatives, co-operative movements, and co-operation can particularly contribute to peace around the world today.

Visiting Researcher, Centre for the Study of Co-operatives

 

Scott Kim is a visiting researcher at the Centre for the Study of Co-operatives as part of an MA in­ternship for his degree in conflict transformation at the Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia, US. His main research interest is the intersection of the peace building and co-operative movements, with a primary focus on organizational peace building in co-ops. Scott has worked with a variety of international relief and development organizations such as Korea Food for the Hungry International, the Korean Foundation for World Aid, and a refugee resettlement program in the US. He will present on the possibility of collaboration between the peace building movement and the co-op movement in northeast Asia.