Cooptation of private sector initiatives by government

Small private enterprises wishing to attain greater levels of self-reliance and autonomy are permanently threatened by the cooptive strategies of the state, political parties and other institutions which operate according to a logic of power. Co-optation is critical in shaping the articulations between local organizations and global processes. It is achieved through the identification and political manipulation of social actors. This invariably leads not only to loss of their identity but also to actions that ultimately defeat their endogenous objectives. The organizations lose control over their own resources and their own destiny.

Especially in developing countries, economic micro-organizations and social movements are frequently neutralized by a political landscape dominated by pyramidal structures in which struggles for hegemony are constantly taking place.