The International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) organised the IX Continental Congress on Cooperative Law and II International Symposium on Cooperative Law in Panama in September 2026, bringing together legal experts, scholars, practitioners and cooperative leaders to examine how cooperative legislation can preserve cooperative identity while responding to economic, technological and social changes.
Held alongside the ICA Global Cooperative Conference under the theme “Building Bridges: Cooperative Solutions for a Peaceful World”, the discussions explored the relationship between cooperative law, democratic participation and peace.
Santosh Kumar, ICA Director of Legislation and Coordinator of the International Symposium, said international human rights principles, including dignity, equality, participation and social progress, provided an important framework for examining whether cooperatives could serve as agents of peace.
Delegates discussed cooperation among cooperatives, digitalisation, taxation, regional integration, member participation, legal innovation and the intergenerational transmission of cooperative values. The deliberations also highlighted the need to ensure that legal frameworks enable innovation without weakening the distinctive identity of cooperatives.
Opening the symposium, Giuseppe Guerini reflected on leadership in cooperative institutions, where authority ultimately derives from democratic membership and adherence to cooperative values and principles.
Dulce Bustamante brought a younger generation’s perspective, examining how legal innovation could help transmit the cooperative idea across generations, with examples from the Philippines. Discussions addressed how digital meetings, voting, information-sharing and economic exchanges could influence participation among younger members.
International experiences enriched the deliberations. Osamu Nakano of the Japan Workers’ Co-operative Union presented perspectives from Japan, while Merav Niv of the Kibbutz Movement discussed the evolution of collective organisation. Professor Carlos Vargas and Professor Marina Aguilar Rubio examined innovation, regional integration and taxation in cooperative law.
Technology emerged as another major concern, with Dr Morshed Mannan of the University of Edinburgh discussing its implications for membership, governance and participation. Contributions from Moshi Co-operative University added an African perspective, including regional approaches to cooperative legislation and a model cooperative legal framework.
A key discussion between Professor Dante Cracogna, Chair of the Regional Commission on Cooperative Law, and Professor Hagen Henry, Chair of the ICA Cooperative Law Committee, focused directly on whether cooperative principles such as solidarity, autonomy, education and concern for community could foster peaceful economic and social relationships.
The discussion also recalled Ian MacPherson’s intellectual legacy and his contribution to the contemporary articulation of Cooperative Identity. Santosh Kumar observed that cooperation based on participation rather than domination and mutuality rather than extraction could strengthen the institutional foundations of peaceful societies.
The event also featured updates on the ICA’s Legal Framework Analysis, supported through the ICA–EU partnership, with regional offices presenting progress on research into cooperative legal systems.
Another highlight was the launch of amicus.coop, a digital platform designed to connect cooperative legislation, jurisprudence, policy, comparative research and legal expertise worldwide.
María Eugenia Pérez Zea of Colombia delivered the valedictory address, linking the Americas’ long tradition of cooperative legal scholarship with the emerging international agenda.
Kumar concluded that building effective cooperative legal frameworks would require comparative research, institutional experimentation and sustained dialogue among lawmakers, scholars, practitioners and cooperators.
