In a world where power is increasingly concentrated and the figure of the strong leader is making a comeback, cooperation is often pushed aside. Yet governing together is neither utopian nor weak. It is a political and ethical choice, grounded in a simple conviction: decisions are better when they draw on the intelligence of those who live with their consequences.
This issue of Approaches Coopératives responds to that urgency.
In partnership with the Université du Nous, which has spent more than fifteen years exploring the practices of “doing together”, we emphasize that shared governance is not just a set of tools. It is a culture: attention to relationships, emotions, informal power dynamics, and the trust that enables a collective to learn.
The organizations we met describe a demanding path, sometimes uncomfortable, yet profoundly transformative. There is no single model of shared governance, but many forms, each shaped by the context and history of the collective that adopts it.
What we defend here is a direction: exercising power with those who are affected by it, welcoming contradiction as a resource, and giving as much care to how we decide as to what we decide.
At a time when the virtues of the leader are once again celebrated, we choose to rediscover the virtues of the circle.
The Cooperative World Magazine
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