A Preface to Economic Democracy: Volume 28

Robert Dahl is considered one of America's archetypal theorists of democracy. Most know him for his rather optimistic account of local pluralism in Who Governs, and some have dismissed him as a neo-liberal who ignores the reality of economic power. Yet that condemnation would ignore a marked shift in Dahl's thought later in his life. A Preface to Economic Democracy might be the clearest and most realistic piece of prose I have ever read regarding the connection between democracy and economics, and the most convincing case I have read in defence of decentralized market socialism. Remarkably free of jargon and utopian fervour, Dahl's Preface is an essential book for anyone interested in democracy (radical or otherwise), and in realistic alternatives to untrammelled neo-liberal economics.