Una cooperativa es una asociación autónoma de personas unidas voluntariamente para formar una organización democrática cuya administración y gestión debe llevarse a cabo de la forma que acuerden los socios, generalmente en el contexto de la economía de mercado o la economía mixta, aunque las cooperativas se han dado también como parte complementaria de la economía planificada. Su intención es hacer frente a las necesidades y aspiraciones económicas, sociales y culturales comunes a todos los socios mediante una empresa. La diversidad de necesidades y aspiraciones (trabajo, consumo, comercialización conjunta, enseñanza, crédito, etc.) de los socios, que conforman el objeto social o actividad corporativizada de estas empresas, define una tipología muy variada de cooperativas. La Alianza Cooperativa Internacional (ACI) en el año 1995 adoptó una Declaración de Identidad Cooperativa durante su II Asamblea General realizada en la ciudad de Mánchester, donde se incluye como definición de cooperativa la que dice que "Una cooperativa es una asociación autónoma de personas que se han unido voluntariamente para hacer frente a sus necesidades y aspiraciones económicas, sociales y culturales comunes por medio de una empresa de propiedad conjunta y democráticamente controlada." Los principios cooperativos constituyen las reglas básicas de funcionamiento de estas organizaciones. La Ley Andaluza de Cooperativas del año 2011 suma dos nuevos principios cooperativos. La Alianza Cooperativa Internacional (ACI) es la organización internacional que desde el año 1895 aglutina y promueve el movimiento cooperativo en el mundo. La cooperativa constituye la forma más difundida de entidad de economía social. El principal identificador de las cooperativas y el cooperativismo en la red es el dominio .coop

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A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op or coop) is an autonomous association of people united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled business. Cooperatives include non-profit community organizations and businesses that are owned and managed by the people who use their services (a consumer cooperative); by the people who work there (a worker cooperative); by the people who live there (a housing cooperative); hybrids such as worker cooperatives that are also consumer cooperatives or credit unions; multi-stakeholder cooperatives such as those that bring together civil society and local actors to deliver community needs; and second and third tier cooperatives whose members are other cooperatives. It was estimated that in 2012 approximately one billion people were members of at least one cooperative and that the turnover of the largest three hundred cooperatives in the world reached $2.2 trillion – which, if they were to be a country, it would make them the seventh largest. In short, a coop can be defined as "a jointly owned enterprise engaging in the production or distribution of goods or the supplying of services, operated by its members for their mutual benefit, typically organized by consumers or farmers." Cooperative businesses are typically more economically resilient than many other forms of enterprise, with twice the number of co-operatives (80%) surviving their first five years compared with other business ownership models (41%). Cooperatives frequently have social goals which they aim to accomplish by investing a proportion of trading profits back into their communities. As an example of this, in 2013, retail co-operatives in the UK invested 6.9% of their pre-tax profits in the communities in which they trade as compared with 2.4% for other rival supermarkets. The International Co-operative Alliance was the first international association formed by the cooperative movement. It includes the World Council of Credit Unions. A second organization was formed later in Germany, the International Raiffeisen Union. In the United States, the National Cooperative Business Association (NCBA) serves as the sector's oldest national membership association. It is dedicated to ensuring that cooperative businesses have the same opportunities as other businesses operating in the country and that consumers have access to cooperatives in the marketplace. A U.S. National Cooperative Bank was formed in the 1970s. By 2004, a new association focused on worker co-ops was founded, the United States Federation of Worker Cooperatives. Since 2002 cooperatives and credit unions could be distinguished on the Internet by use of a .coop domain. Since 2014, following International Cooperative Alliance's introduction of the Cooperative Marque, ICA cooperatives and WOCCU credit unions can also be identified by a coop ethical consumerism label.

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