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What is Economic Democracy? The author first introduces the characteristics of economic democracy by quoting Jacques Ranciere from Dissenting Words; equating currently to the form of self-management production in 19th century labor practices, utilized primarily for democratic realization, such as in the cooperative. The article explains the various forms of economic democracy: workers initiatives and unions; industrial democracy, to include managerial initiatives designed for employee commitment. From this standpoint the author embarks on the extent of economic democracy, the determination of populist views, and the equality between citizens; viewing democracy as either a state or a process. The article then explores the aims and institutional forms of democracy, before embarking on three questions on economic democracy in French cooperatives; discussing the people and cooperation vs. participation; form as aristocracy or democracy; and debated scope regarding community vs. cooperative. In conclusion the author draws on the aforementioned debates, the traditional forms of participation and cooperation, and the political association affiliated with these forms. All of which builds up to an analysis, showing a paradox intrinsic to cooperatives, which evolved from the integrated structures of capitalism; raising further questions into its very nature. Adapted from the source document.

How can we explain that the use of genetically-modified organisms (GMOs) in food and horticulture is an issue in France and in Europe, where they are hardly used, and yet seems to be taken for granted in the US, where their use is widespread? Many observers see this as a sign that American consumers have accepted transgenic foods, due to a different attitude to risks, food and nature. This explanation has been discussed since with a focus on the institutional dynamics of the public debate. Our paper can be considered as an extension of these previous researches, although we criticize the "bias assimilation and polarization hypothesis" about a public opinion split on this issue. Our data come from the 2000-2010 ISSP (International Social Survey Program) on environment. The heterogeneous choice (aka location-scale) model helps us to separate the effects of time and country. For some countries, we show a gentle increase of risk perception of GM crops (measured on a Likert scale) but a small decrease of the variance, suggesting a fall in the extremist view. Adapted from the source document.

Resume**:  Cet article propose une présentation et une discussion des principales thèses défendues par un courant fondateur de l'économie sociale et coopérative en France, les associationnistes. Ces théoriciens (Louis Blanc, Auguste Ott, Philippe Buchez) développent une critique du fonctionnement de leur société, à partir d'une réflexion sur les fondements de l'économie politique classique. L'actualité de la pensée de ces auteurs se trouve à trois niveaux: d'une part sur la méthode de l'économie politique avec la séparation discutée entre science positive et normative, d'autre part sur le droit au travail par l'association et la question de la propriété collective, enfin sur la nature de la régulation sociale du marché.