Worker cooperatives in post-conflict Northern Ireland: an exploration into prefigurative solidarity economies

北方爱尔兰提供了一个分裂的冲突后社会的复杂写照，在这个社会中，新自由主义经济学被嵌入到一个支离破碎的景观中，模仿而不是超越分裂社区之间的两极分化。由于和平未能改善北方爱尔兰一些最贫困社区的生活水平，新自由主义和平进程正受到越来越多的批评。北方爱尔兰的政治战场可能不会给替代方案留下太多空间，但这并不意味着它们不存在。事实上，探索更进步和共享的政治的新剧目正是我的博士研究所调查的。事实上，这个项目建立在北方爱尔兰工人合作社部门和运动的第一个和原始的分析（我的博士研究），有助于我们在缺乏学术和政策审查的背景下理解合作社经济。基于长期参与一些小规模的组织主要是在和周围的贝尔法斯特，混合参与观察和定性访谈，研究提出了一些重大的和创新的索赔，这个博士后项目的目的是沟通和建立。研究指出，合作社在挑战宗派主义、促进妇女参与经济、解决社会贫困问题和支持增强社区权能等方面都有好处。在提高对合作社社会价值能力的认识方面，该项目填补了批评新自由主义建设和平与设想团结经济之间的空白。此外，该项目有助于学术界和地方经济发展从业人员讨论是什么推动了合作社做法的出现，它们促进的结果和它们克服的障碍，将合作社定位为更广泛的后增长经济体的一部分，因此，博士后研究金通过学术出版物，参与和组织学术会议，由具有政治经济学和替代经济学专业知识的QUC研究社区提供支持。通过学术成果，该项目将：-带来了关键机构的前沿空间往往忽视了北方爱尔兰的文献，因为合作者寻求开放的可能性，为经济集中在社会正义和环境可持续性。强调合作社在跨社区问题以及就业等其他有形方面提供替代参与形式的潜力，为北方爱尔兰工人合作社和冲突解决的研究做出可行的贡献。讨论发展合作社经济的体制障碍，包括能力问题，缺乏支持（宣传和财务）该项目还寻求促进学术界和实践者之间的联系，并通过将想法和研究成果转化为有说服力和实用的政策建议，并与合作社部门开展有影响力的合作，为促进合作社经济做出贡献最后，该项目利用与合作社和工会运动建立的和新建立的联系，调查新的研究思路，质疑工会等传统政治行为体是否以及如何更广泛地参与合作社和增长后战略。

Northern Ireland provides a complex portrait of a divided post-conflict society, one where neoliberal economics are embedded into a fragmented landscape, emulating rather than transcending polarisation between divided communities. As peace fails to materialise as improved living standards for some of Northern Ireland's poorest communities, the neoliberal peace process is coming under increasing criticism. Northern Ireland's political battleground may not leave much space for alternatives, but it does not mean that they do not exist. In fact, the exploration of new repertoires for more progressive and shared politics is precisely what my PhD research investigates.Indeed, this project builds on the first and original analysis (my PhD research) of the worker cooperative sector and movement in Northern Ireland, contributing to our understanding of cooperative economies in a context where they lack academic and policy scrutiny. Based on a long-term engagement with a number of small-scale organisations largely in and around Belfast, blending participant observation and qualitative interviews, the research makes a number of significant and innovative claims which this postdoctoral project aims to communicate and build upon. The research points to the benefits of cooperatives in challenging sectarianism; fostering the inclusion of women in the economy; addressing social deprivation and supporting community empowerment. In raising awareness of cooperatives' capacity for social value, the project fills a gap between the critique of neoliberal peacebuilding and, on the other hand, the envisioning of solidarity economies. Moreover, the project contributes to discussions both in academia and with local economic development practitioners on what drives the emergence of cooperative practices, the outcomes they foster and the impediments they grapple with, positioning cooperatives as part of wider post-growth economies.As a result, the postdoctoral fellowship proceeds to build on this terrain of investigation, through academic publications, participation and organisation of academic conferences supported by a research community at QUC with expertise in political economy and alternative economies. Through academic outputs, the project will:- bring to the fore spaces of critical agency too often overlooked in the literature on Northern Ireland, as cooperators seek to open possibilities for an economy centred on social justice and environmental sustainability.- highlight the potential of cooperatives to provide alternative forms of engagement on cross- community issues as well as other tangible aspects such as employment, making a viable contribution to the study of both worker cooperatives and conflict resolution in Northern Ireland.- discuss the institutional barriers to the development of cooperative economies including capacity issues, lack of support (advocacy and financial) and insignificant media and government attention.The project also seeks to foster ties between academia and practitioners and contribute to the promotion of cooperative economies by turning ideas and research findings into persuasive and practical policy recommendations and developing impactful engagements with the cooperative sector and local economic development stakeholders.Finally, the project builds on established and new connections with both the cooperative and trade union movements to investigate new research ideas, questioning whether and how traditional political actors such as trade unions engage with cooperatives and with post-growth strategies more broadly.