The Loss of the Co-operative Bank. A Symptom of the Systemic Misreading of Co-operative History, Purpose, Philosophy, and Economic Theory

This paper will argue that the failure of the Co-operative Bank is not an isolated event but part of a pattern of systemic failure by the whole movement globally. This failure is rooted in the movement not developing an appropriate economics and in the misdirection of its original purpose to develop an alternative economy rather than simply presenting an alternative business model. These mistakes have been compounded the paper argues by a failure to focus on any definition of co-operative management or its development and to forget the early emphasis on character formation within the project of co-operative education.