Sustainability and change in Balinese cooperatives

Abstract

This research seeks to understand how the unique culturally rich networks of interdependent Balinese cooperative entities operate. Widespread social and economic changes may be putting the viability of traditional rural communities at risk. The aim of this research is to determine factors that encouraged rice farmers in the District of Melaya in west Bali to engage in cooperative action in the past, and how they are surviving the impact of modernisation and globalisation today. The area chosen for the study is known to the researcher and raises a range of issues that reflect the wider domain, as well as exogenous influences including longstanding contacts with tourists. The existing literature pays little attention to the correlation between village sustainability and the roles played by rural cooperative institutions. This research will endeavour to determine how contemporary cooperatives are performing and if new models of cooperation are needed for rural communities to be self-reliant. In so doing, recommendations for further research will be developed that could inform government and non-governmental organisations, as well as business sectors in Bali and further afield who are seeking to effect the cultural and economic sustainability of rural communities.