AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION IN RUSSIA: THE PROBLEM OF ORGANIZATION MODEL CHOICE

In today's Russia many agricultural co-operatives are established from the top downwards. The national project "Development of Agroindustrial Complex" and other governmental programs initiate the formation of cooperative societies. These cooperatives are organized in accordance with the traditional cooperative model. Many of them do, however, not have any real business activities. The aim of this paper to investigate if traditional cooperatives (following principles such as collective ownership, one member one vote, equal treatment, and solidarity, etc.) constitute the best organizational model for cooperatives societies under the present conditions in the Russian agriculture.