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This paper closely examines territorial cohesion and rural development policy of the European Union, regional differences in the level of development of the cooperative system, and its spatially differentiated influence on the social and economic development of Croatia. The results confirmed the importance of the cooperative system as a factor of territorial cohesion, and the high level of positive correlation between lagging behind in regional and rural development, and the level of development of the cooperative system. The cooperative system has the greatest influence on regional development in Southern Croatia/Dalmatia (especially on social development) and in Eastern Croatia (especially on economic development). It has the highest impact on rural development in counties with the largest share of local self-government units (administrative towns and municipalities) with a development indeks below 75% of the national average - primarily in Vukovar-Srijem and Osijek-Baranja Counties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper closely examines the fluctuations in development of agricultural cooperatives in Croatia during their 150-year-long tradition, as well as recent development trends, and spatially-differentiated development in the contemporary era. The results show that, despite the long tradition, contemporary Croatian cooperatives have been faced with a series of development problems. The main cause of that situation is inadequate legislation - a poorly adjusted law on cooperatives and correlative laws that are relevant for the functioning of cooperative entrepreneurship. This reflects unfavourably in all cooperative sectors, specifically agricultural cooperatives as its most developed sector. This has resulted in a marginal contribution of cooperatives to the socioeconomic development of the nation's demographically ever more destabilised rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]