La gouvernance des coopératives en situation de conflit et de post-conflit

If governance has become, for many years, as a matter of paramount importance in traditional companies (Berle & Means, 1932), microfinance institutions have also not escaped this need (Rock et al. 1998), there are about thirty years. Considered essential to address issues related to economic and social development (Wele, 2009), governance is also emerging as an undeniable factor for to strengthen the financial performance and to increase awareness in microfinance institutions (Rock et al., 1998; Labie, 2001 Helms, 2006). Several authors have contributed to the understanding of corporate governance by using a variety of theoretical approaches (Jensen & Meckling (1976), Fama and Jensen (1983a) for Shareholders approach, Freeman (1984), Donaldson & Preston (1995) Hung (1998) for the stakeholder approach, Meyer and Rowan (1977), Mertens (2010), Muth & Donaldson (1998), Berle & Means (1932); Labie (2005a) for alternative approaches). Applied individually in cooperatives and organizations, these approaches have proved rather one-dimensional and illuminate one aspect of the Boards of Directors (Cornforth, 2004). Hence the need for an approach that integrates the insights of these perspectives has been felt. Thus, a perspective in terms of paradox (Cornforth, 2004) helped to highlight the dilemmas, paradoxes and tensions that boards of directors are facing. Several researchers have used this paradox perspective in different organizations (Demb & Neubauer, 1992 Wood, 1996; Sundaramurthy & Lewis, 2003), but it also did not take long. Criticized for focusing only on the board, this perspective paradox is also alleged to ignore the role of contextual factors. However, as argued by DiMaggio & Powell (1983), Meyer and Rowan (1977), environmental factors play an undeniable role in the way organizations make isomorphic. Rijpens & Adam (2011) also point out that the internal and external factors to the organization involved in the debate on the governance model adopted. Hudon and Seibel (2007) argue that conflicts and disasters seriously affect the socio-economic institutions, public governance, networks and social relations of citizens, including those related to the exchange or transfer of financial resources. This article examines the influence of armed conflict on the cooperatives’ governance. It is built around three fundamental questions. (1) What overlay the systems of cooperatives governance? (2) What is the theoretical model of governance adapted to cooperatives working in conflict situations? (3) How an armed conflict does it influence the cooperatives governance? To answer these questions, this article assumes, first, the confrontation of existing theoretical approaches in the literature on corporate governance in general and cooperatives in particular. It then develops a model of governance adapted to the conflict. Finally, that model will be tested after data collect from a qualitative field study based on the triangulation of information resources and interviews with key players in organizations under study in a country where microfinance institutions have evolved conflict situations. The results will be presented in