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PROF. DR. HAGEN HENRY OF HELSINKI FINLAND TALKS BIG ON COOP LAW AND POLICY
Dr. Hagen H e n r ÿ an adjunct professor of comparative law at the University of Helsinki (Finland) and Research director at the Ruralia Institute of that university and the Chairman of the International Cooperative Alliance Co-operative Law Committee and Ex-ILO Director of Coop-Africa Program on Thursday 7th June, 2018 delivered a public lecture at The Co-operative University of Kenya, Karen on his maiden visit to Kenya. The lecture was attended by the university teaching, non-teaching staff, students and members of the general public.
Prof. Hagen, in his 2-hour lecture concisely spoke on ‘The Promotion of Co-operatives through Law and Policy’. He noted that a renewed interest in cooperative enterprises (as defined internationally by the 2002 International Labour Organization Recommendation No. 193 concerning the promotion of cooperatives, Paragraph 2) and, a renewed interest in the policy/law nexus related to the development of enterprises were two core issues worldwide that can catapult cooperatives’’ growth in the face a globalization.
He observed that as of recently, cooperative enterprises have been put on the agenda of national governments, regional and international governmental and non-governmental organisations. He emphasized that Academia, too, is renewing its interest in the subject.
Prof. Hagen emphasized that Globalization was quickly redefining the state and the labour market partners in such a way that they are not able anymore to organize democratic participation as that mechanism through which social justice regenerates which is the central aspect of sustainable development. He affirmed that Cooperative enterprises where democratic participation permeates all organisational and operational aspects are therefore necessary in two respects: they provide for the social justice regenerating democratic participation and they add to the vital diversity of enterprise types.
Prof. Hagen is published widely (in addition to well over 100 articles 2 books and 5 book editions) on cooperative development questions, land law, comparative law and cooperative law and has been a frequent (some 200) contributor to seminars and conferences in many countries over many years. He is member of several scientific associations and of editorial boards of scientific journals. He has taught cooperative law and policy, amongst others at the International Training Center of the International Labour Organization in Turin (2004-2010), at the Helsinki University Summer School (2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018) and in the Cooperative Network Studies Program (CNS-Program) of ten Finnish universities (since 2012), as well as Cooperative values and principles in the CNS-Program (since 2012) and Comparative law at the University of Helsinki (since 2006).
Henrÿ worked at the Universities of Geneva and Saarbrücken for 6 years and as legal advisor to the German Federal Minister of Economy for 8 years. Since 1994 he has consulted on cooperative policy and legislation in/for some 65 countries for governmental, as well as non-governmental, national, regional and international organizations. Before joining the Ruralia Institute of the University of Helsinki as Research director in 2011, he was Chief of the Cooperative Branch of the International Labour Office from 2007 to early 2011.