Adaptation of Cooperatives to Economic Changes: The Israeli Experience

Changing social and economic circumstances necessitate institutional and conceptional adjustments of economic organizations to new conditions. The need for such adjustment is particularly important in developing countries, where changes are rapid, and for cooperative organizations which have a high propensity to conservation. The article analyzes the basic features of the Israeli cooperative movement in its various stages of development, from the early nineteen-twenties, when Palestine was a backward British Mandate territory, with a Jewish population of about 100,000, to our days. The swift demographic and economic changes in Israel compelled most cooperative undertakings to reorganize their institutional structure, and the changing social environment made them reconsider their functions with regard to the needs of the individual and the community. The experience of the Israeli cooperatives in searching for formulae adaptable to the new circumstances may be similar to that of other developing countries.