What is economic democracy? The term has a long history going back to the 19th century. It concerns, essentially, outlining the many possible paths that exist to organizing production and distributing resources according to the democratic principles of one member, one vote. As Aaron Tanaka writes, “economic democracy asserts the rights of communities to establish a basic standard of living, and to use their collective resources to achieve that standard.” 

Circa 2022, the most popular theory of economic democracy is the solidarity economy. However, there are other approaches. Here we offer articles that outline why having a democratic economy is so critical to thriving and wellbeing, the role of nonprofits (for good and for ill) in developing a more democratic economy, and different approaches to democratic organization of the economy, including the solidarity economy, restorative economics, and a pluralist approach rooted in the notion of building a commonwealth.