Pelle Dragsted’s Nordic Socialism: The Path Toward a Democratic Economy is a book about radical possibilities. Written by a Danish MP of the ecosocialist Enhedslisten (Red-Green Alliance), it makes the case that the next step beyond social democracy is neither center-left management of capitalism nor distant revolutionary rupture but the democratization of economic life in the here and now. Dragsted’s vision is of a pluralist socialism — an economy where worker and consumer co-ops, public firms, sovereign wealth funds, and socialized markets coexist, expanding democracy into spaces now dominated by private capital.

To begin, Dragsted rejects the idea that the question facing socialists is whether to attempt radical change through the state or against it. His views are instead similar to those of the socialist political philosopher Nicos Poulantzas, whose theorization of the state has long shaped the idea of a “democratic road to socialism.”

According to Poulantzas, the state is not a monolithic instrument of capital but a contradictory arena. Its institutions can be captured and democratized when they are linked to deep, powerful struggles in society. Social movements, especially those coming out of workers’ struggles, leave high-water marks that remain long after the tide goes out. To make the most of that interplay, Dragsted proposes prioritizing campaigns for “nonreformist” reforms — enacted through the state — that alter the balance of class power, not just the short-term distribution of resources.