Cooperativism: a policy of state or a day-to-day policy?: A Cape Verde case

Abstract

Cooperative organizations were set up in Cape Verde during independence as part of a political project. This paper relates this fact to the practical ways through which cooperativism was carried out, taking into account that, the concepts of cooperativism present in these two approaches are different from one another. State initiative resulted in a unique experience: the collective use of associative organizational strategies and the use of mutual aid strategies developed over social history. They link themselves to new ways of appropriation of the official ideological foundation and the governmental objectives aimed at development. The study is based on interviews with cooperative workers in Santiago Island.