Co-optation

=Co-optation (n=5)=


 * Definition 1:** A co-option or more often co-optation is an election where members of a committee (or similar group) vote in order to fill a vacancy on that committee or group. Where a small committee is originally elected using a method of proportional representation a co-option may be thought unsuitable as the newly elected member will not necessarily represent the interests of the group represented by the vacating member.[citation needed] Cooptation may also refer to the tactic of neutralizing or winning over a minority by assimilating them into the established group or culture. (see Philip Selznick, "TVA and the Grassroots" (1949)) In evolutionary biology, co-optation or exaptation describes the adaptation of an existing biological feature for a new purpose. In sociology, co-option refers to a trend or idea being incorporated into mainstream culture.[1] See also: Cultural appropriation
 * Source:** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-option
 * Focus:** Broad


 * Definition 2:** Co-optation means that a special interest (or privilege) has taken over the authority which controls the entity and makes decisions in the best interest of the privilege of that group.
 * Source:** http://www.csudh.edu/dearhabermas/coopt.htm
 * Focus:** Forums and Agencies


 * Definition 3:** co-optation A term devised by Philip Selznick (see TVA and the Grass Roots 1949), to refer to a political process found especially in formally democratic or committee-governed organizations and systems, as a way of managing opposition and so preserving stability and the organization. Non-elected outsiders are ‘co-opted’ by being given formal or informal power on the grounds of their élite status, specialist knowledge, or potential ability to threaten essential commitments or goals.
 * Source:** http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O88-cooptation.html
 * Focus:** Sociology


 * Definition 4:** CO-OPTATION (from Lat. co-optare; less correctly "cooption"), the election to vacancies on a legislative, administrative or other body by the votes of the existing members of the body, instead of by an outside constituency. Such bodies may be purely co-optative, as the Royal Academy, or may be elective with power to add to the numbers by co-optation, as municipal corporations in England.
 * Source:** http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Co-optation
 * Focus:** Broad


 * Definition 5:** Co-optation (...) implies not dealing the stakeholders out of the game but dealing them new cards. ....transforming stakeholders from opponents to supporters of reform often requires the creation of rents by the government that these stakeholders can be offered in exchange for their support." (Shleifer and Treisman, 2000, p. 8 and 9).
 * Source:** http://eprints.rhul.ac.uk/440/
 * Focus:** Politics