John Restakis

John Restakis has been active in the co-op movement for 25 years. He is the former Executive Director of Community Evolution Foundation and the BC Co-operative Association. John is Co-founder of Synergia Co-operative Institute. A practitioner and pioneering researcher into international co-operative economies, he writes and lectures on economic democracy and the role of co-operatives in humanizing economies. He is the author of Humanizing the Economy: Co-operatives in the Age of Capital and lives in Vancouver, BC.

direct democracy

Civilising the State: Excerpt

Those who dreamt and fought for the ideals of democracy, liberty, and equality in the time of monarchs were indispensable precisely because their hopes seemed so distant to the times. They were torchbearers.

November 4, 2021

Cooperative Commonwealth & the Partner State

Thankfully, the elements of a new imaginary are all around us. The outlines of a new political economy that is both humane and in which the fulfillment of the person is conjoined to the well-being of one’s community are already visible…

May 25, 2017

Civil Power and the Partner State: A Social Solidarity Economy Response to Austerity in Greece

I want to speak today about a crisis that has gripped Europe, and the western democracies, over the last 30 years.

April 3, 2015

What is the “Social Economy”?

The social economy is composed of civil organizations and networks that are driven by the principles of reciprocity and mutuality in service to the common good – usually through the social control of capital.

January 15, 2015

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