Abstract:
This article analyses the recruitment process of the leaders of the political representative entity of business cooperativism, which compose what we call the cooperative elite. The object is the Union and Organization of Cooperatives of Paraná State (OCEPAR) in the last two decades. The research considered, on one hand, the institutional constraints, external and internal to this entity, and, on the other hand, the social aspects of the members of this elite. In addition to the production of analytical categories able to deal with the particularities of this elite, we used Brazilian legislation on cooperatives, some economic data, documents from OCEPAR and other cooperative entities, and interviews. We found that the institutional aspects of business cooperativism and the social characteristics of this entity’s leaders help to explain why presidents of the largest agro-industrial cooperatives occupy the majority of the OCEPAR board constituting a channel of political power between such cooperatives and the entity and the latter with the political institutions and authorities. Therefore, we verify that some institutional and social aspects strongly impact the recruitment of this cooperative elite and the constitution of the agro-industrial cooperativism as a political actor, a dimension of great relevance for addressing its economic importance.
Keywords:
cooperativism; business cooperatives; agroindustry cooperatives; cooperative elite; Paraná; Union and Organization of Cooperatives of the State of Paraná