Vol. 54 No. 215 (2024): Demokratische Planwirtschaft in Zeiten von Digitalisierung und Klimakrise

For some years now, the debate on democratic (economic) planning has been experiencing a new upswing. Initially, it primarily centred on new technical developments designed to make democratic (economic) planning possible. With the escalation of the climate crisis, the focus of the discussions has now shifted to ecological and political issues. Beyond the technological and ecological level, however, the planning debate primarily poses political and democratic questions: the productive and reproductive structure of our economy and society currently depends centrally on the private investment decisions of some companies, which in turn are forced to operate profitably. Ecological, political and social aspects are inevitably of secondary importance in their cost-benefit calculations. PROKLA 215 is therefore dedicated to the question of democratic planning of production and reproduction in the 21st century: How do we find democratic mechanisms to consciously decide on the direction of social development instead of leaving central issues to the blind and anonymous forces of the market?