democratic planning

The planned economy has always been the major alternative to capitalism. In the 'real socialist' states of the 20th century, it was organized in an authoritarian and inefficient way. New models of a democratic planned economy take up both this historical failure and modern technical and social possibilities, and develop new concepts that, according to their claim, are compatible with individual freedom, technological progress, social equality, a good standard of living and the containment of the climate crisis.

These models share the premise that human misery and the destruction of nature are inseparable from the capitalist economy, which fixes emterprises on maximizing profits, growth and competition, and on proceeding in an uncoordinated manner. Likewise, the models share the conviction that overcoming the capitalist economy requires not only supplementing the market with planning and redistribution, but replacing it with the democratic planning of the economy.

In this website, we introduce the basic problems that democratic planning models have to deal with, and we compare some models that we consider particularly relevant for discussing and solving these problems.

Click on Models for an overview of new models of democratic planning. Click on FAQ for frequently asked questions. Click on Literature & Material for sources, literature and further material. Click on About us for information about the authors of this website.