In memory of Professor Emeritus Münkner
Professor Emeritus Münkner of the University of Marburg, Germany, passed away on 22 November at the age of 88 years old. Münkner had been a mentor and a friend of the author since the 1980s. I sincerely pray for the repose of his soul.
He often referred to himself as a co-operative fundamentalist, while his vision was always global. The Credit Cooperative Societies Act (1904) given to colonial India by the British Empire introduced a top-down co-operative development approach, which became the prototype for cooperative laws in developing countries, which Münkner leveled the ‘British-Indian Cooperative Pattern’. He presided over a colloquium in Marburg to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Act in 2004, the results of which were published in a book.
Münkner taught a large number of international students from developing countries at the University of Marburg. He has also been involved as a consultant in the enactment or revision of co-operatives in many Asian and African countries.
At the International Conference “Promoting the Understanding of Cooperatives for a Better World”, held in Venice in 2012 commemorating the International Year of Co-operatives, Münkner presented a paper entitled “Worldwide Regulation of Co-operative Societies: An Overview”. Münkner was also fluent in English and French, and edited together with Catherine Vernas the annotated glossary of cooperative terms in English, German and French in 2015, with the financial support of the Swiss Migros Co-operative Federation.
On the co-operative values and principles, Mr Münkner also made a major contribution as a core member of the Böök’s and Macpherson’s committees. Münkner’s Cooperative Principles and Cooperative Law (1973), a classic masterpiece translated into nine languages, focused on the newly independent countries of Asia and Africa aiming to help improve the cooperative law in each country. A revised second edition was also published in 2015, taking into account developments in co-operative law in various countries since the publication of the previous edition and the ILO’s Recommendation No. 193.
In relation to Japan, he had a great interest in co-operatives and co-operative laws and frequently visited Japan to give lectures. The Consumer Co-operative Institute of Japan is grateful for the lecture he gave at an international symposium in 1994 on ‘The revision of the Cooperative Principles and the role of co-operatives in the 21st century’, and for the congratulatory address on the occasion of its 10th anniversary in 1999. He has also contributed papers frequently on issues of German co-operative law and governance. In 2001, he gave a keynote speech entitled ‘Towards the Formation of a Voluntary Sector in a Mature Society’ at the International Forum held in Kobe to commemorate the Year of Volunteers, and in 2003 he gave a special lecture at the Japanese Society for Co-operative Studies. Münkner gave a favourable assessment of the Japanese Consumer Co-operatives Act’s provision completely prohibiting use by non-members, but the author disagreed on this point. In 2016, a comparative study of German, Japanese and Korean co-operatives was conducted by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), in which Münkner and the author participated as co-operative experts.