The current game theory narrative regarding cooperation is rooted in prejudicial beliefs against Southern Italy. It states that as a result of the North's advancement, Northern Italy is more prone towards collective action, social capital, and civic engagement, while the undeveloped South is unable to reach these levels of cooperation. This thesis redirects this narrative. It fills a gap of scholarly work that does not account for Southern Italy's extensive cooperative network. This is done through an analysis of the cooperatives located in the regions Emilia Romagna, Northern Italy, and Calabria, Southern Italy. I draw a connection between these two regions, and demonstrate that what truly drives the development of cooperatives is not the location of these regions, but their encounters with an authoritarian power – in Emilia Romagna this was the fascist regime and in Calabria it was, and continues to be, the Mafia. I will explore what it means to be an authoritarian power, how the fascist regime and the Mafia both fall under that term, and why cooperatives were used as a tool against them by their respective societies.