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This essay, written in memory of Erik Olin Wright (1947–2019), outlines nine characteristics of a future socialism. It elaborates socialism as a set of processes and institutional arrangements that would open the way to a society that is radically more democratic, more just, and more sustainable than the existing order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, there has been little agreement between advocates of radical financial reform and socialist theoreticians. However, in the new circumstances of the twenty-first century, a productive synthesis of these two traditions might be possible. Drawing on the franchise model of credit creation elaborated by Robert C. Hockett and the dysfunctions created by the extreme concentration of private financial institutions, this article outlines a reform agenda that would both democratize finance and facilitate the flow of funds into valuable forms of investment that are currently starved for resources. If the new institutions envisioned in this proposal were able to take root and expand, they could ultimately facilitate a transition to socialism, defined as the subordination of the market to democratic politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article profiles Karl Polanyi, Hungarian economic historian, economic anthropologist, political economist, historical sociologist and social philosopher. Information is provide on the extraordinary theoretical contributions of Polanyi to socialist thought, his attack of market liberalism and the role of government and politics in his analysis of market economies.

Martin Carnoy in his book "The State and Political Theory," has produced a careful, even painstaking review of recent Marxist debates on the state that will provide an excellent introduction for students to the intricacies of this topic. Carnoy's major concern throughout is to give a comprehensible and fair summary of the positions of the various theorists. He succeeds at this and the writing is lucid even when he is dealing with opaque arguments. The main issue on which he consistently presses his own position is the relationship between socialism and democracy. He summarizes the major threads of liberal and classical Marxist political theory and then devotes considerable space to explicating the positions of Marxist theoreticians Antonio Gramsci, Louis Aithusser, and Nicos Poulantzas. Separate chapters are devoted to recent German contributions to state theory-particularly those of Joachim Hirsch and Claus Offe, to the Italian debate on democracy and socialism, and to recent perspectives on the state in developing societies, with particular emphasis on Latin America.