‘Strong together? Citizen collectives solve problems unheeded by the government’ – Interview with Tine De Moor

De Volkskrant had an interview with Tine De Moor about 1000 years of history of institutions for collective action (a.k.a. commons) and the relevance of citizen collectives in our present-day society. ‘Problems such as climate change and the capacity of healthcare provision are too urgent to re-invent the wheel over and over again.’ The article can be found here: Samen sterk. Burgercollectieven lossen problemen op die de overheid laat liggen. See this page for a translation in English.

OPEN SEMINAR: DR ANASTASIA SERGEEVA

On May 16 May, Dr. Anastasia Sergeeva (RSM) was our guest in the open seminar series. She presented her paper ‘Value-based Trust as a Shift Parameter for Collective Organizing: The Case of Magnum Photos’. The study examines Magnum Photos, a cooperative of freelance photographers, highlighting how shared values can promote non-calculative trust, mitigate opportunism, and encourage innovation in industries with measurement problems.

Book: Shakeholder society? Social enterprises, citizens and collective action in the community economy.

The inaugural lecture of prof. dr. Tine De Moor can be downloaded for free on this page: T_De_Moor_Shakeholder_Society.pdf

Abstract

On a daily basis we are confronted with social dilemmas, or the choice between our own short-term benefits and long-term collective benefits of societies. We often look to governments and markets to create a framework that enables us… Read further

…to make the choice for the latter easier, but with many grand challenges ahead of us – climate change, loss of biodiversity, mass migration, inequality, to name but a few – we will need to look beyond those and look into the possibilities citizens themselves have to contribute to solving those challenges. In the Netherlands, the social enterprise in the form of the social business has in the past often been put forward as a solution that gives citizens choices as consumers. In “Shakeholder society?” Tine De Moor brings in the perspective of the entrepreneurial citizen, and looks at the possibilities of bringing the roles of stakeholders and shareholders closer together, in cooperative social enterprises. She argues that we need to consider the full breath of social enterprises and give recognition to a diversity of players in this field, all of which brings parts of the solution to the fore. The origins and features of this particular type of social enterprise are discussed, as are the various ways in which they may provide society with the much-needed transformative power. De Moor furthermore discusses the role of scientists, governments, and citizens in increasing the resilience of the cooperative social enterprise as a transformative business model.

‘Burgercollectieven en overheid: Genoeg geëxperimenteerd?!’

CollectieveKracht, Europe Direct Eindhoven and DuurzaamDoor organised an event on Friday 16 June with the theme ‘Burgercollectieven en overheid: Genoeg geëxperimenteerd?!’, which attracted around 250 attendees. In the Parktheater in Eindhoven, citizen collectives, civil servants and scientists shared inspiring stories and examples, entered dialogues and shared new insights from practice and science from The Netherlands and other European countries.

Rotary Utrecht celebrates its 100th anniversary with inspiring afternoon on ‘doing good’

Rotary Utrecht celebrated its 100th anniversary on Friday 10 March with an inspiring afternoon on ‘doing good’ in this day and age. The programme included short lectures by various speakers – including Tine De Moor – discussions, impressive live music, video clips of social initiatives and a closing drink.

The afternoon took place at a special location in Utrecht: Gasthuis Leeuwenberg. For more information about the afternoon and the speakers, click here.

Inaugural lecture Tine De Moor: ‘Shakeholder society? Social Enterprises, citizens and collective action in the community economy’

On 17 February Prof Tine De Moor publicly accepted her appointment as professor of Social Enterprises and Institutions for Collective Action at Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University with an inaugural lecture entitled Shakeholder society? Social Enterprises, citizens and collective action in the community economy.

How to deal with the grand challenges of our current society? We know what to do, often discuss who should be taking the lead in this (governments? companies? consumers?) and there are many technological innovations that could help but we still fall short of making our economy more regenerative. Can a focus on an economy steered by the needs and collective action of citizens help us forward? Do citizens want to be involved and if so what happens already today? What are the benefits but also potential negative effects and pitfalls of enabling cooperative social enterprises? In “Shakeholder society?” Tine De Moor looks at the possibilities of bringing the roles of stakeholders and shareholders closer together.

If you would like to (re)watch the lecture, you can do so below!

Webinar Herenboeren: Participation of Members

On 15 March, Herenboeren’s Winter Webinar took place with the theme ‘Participation of Members’. A key pillar of the Herenboerderij is social connectedness. The local community makes these cooperatives possible and is the buyer of the products. But how do we ensure sustainable connection and participation of cooperative members on the Herenboerderij? This question is the focus of the webinar. During the webinar, Christiaan Bikker, project officer at the HAS, shared his findings on sustainable participation of cooperative members. Professor Tine De Moor, initiator of CollectieveKracht, talked about the resilience and development of citizen collectives. More information can be found here.

Symposium – From science to society: evidence-based lessons for (cooperative) social enterprises

On 17 February, our symposium “From science to society: evidence-based lessons for (cooperative) social enterprises” took place, followed by prof. dr. Tine De Moor’s inaugural lecture entitled: “Shakeholder society? Social Enterprises, citizens and collective action in the community economy”. We would like to thank all (online) attendees for attending these events! We hope everyone found it as interesting as we did.

We are already looking forward to the next event! In the meantime, if you would like to look back at the symposium, you can do so below!

Open seminar talk by Bram van Helvoirt

On 31 January dr. Bram van Helvoirt gave a very interesting presentation as part of our open seminar series. Van Helvoirt is a lecturer and researcher Future Food Systems at HAS Green Academy and his current research focuses on agrarian and food collectives, including the concept of ‘food as a common(s)’.

Open seminar talk by Sverker Jagers

On 24 January Prof. Sverker Jagers, professor at the University of Gothenburg and director of CeCAR (Centre for Collective Action Research), gave a very captivating presentation on “Climate change, collective action and the need for applied environmental social science”. His research focuses on various aspects of environmental politics, from public opinion to institutional theory.