The International Co-operative Alliance notes that “Co-operatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the co-operative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.”[3] According to co-operative economist Charles Gide, the aim of a co-operative wholesale society, which is owned by retail consumer co-operatives, is to arrange "bulk purchases, and, if possible, organise production".
[2] The best historical examples of this were the English and Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Societies, which were the forerunners to the modern Co-operative Group.
A second common form of co-operative federation is a co-operative union, whose objective (according to Gide) is “to develop the spirit of solidarity among societies and... in a word, to exercise the functions of a government whose authority, it is needless to say, is purely moral.”[2] Co-operatives UK and the International Co-operative Alliance are examples of such arrangements.
[4] In some countries with strong co-operative sectors, such as the UK, co-operatives have organized parliamentary political parties to represent their interests.
The British Co-operative Party is an example of such an arrangement.