Theoretical Problems of Democratic Planning

Abstract

Democratic planning is a much abused concept. Still, it is extremely relevant for present day planning research. There are certain general preconditions for democratic planning, namely: 1. there must be a correct comprehension of the laws of development of the society where planning is to take place, 2. there must be means at hand for guiding the development of the society at all levels and 3. all this must be implemented through authentic participation. I.e. for democratic planning it is not enough to have participation, one must also be able to plan.The most fundamental theoretical question concerning democratic planning is under what preconditions democratic planning would be possible in a capitalist society. Capitalism of today is distinguished by an extension of capitalist control over every sphere of human life. The value expansion process of capital dominates the whole of society in an unprecedented manner. But simultaneously with this development, capital develops forms of social activity, becomes a precondition for the universalization of man, for the economy of time. This double nature of capitalism implies that democratic planning certainly is possible under capitalism when specific political and social conditions are met, those which go under the conception advanced democracy. There are innumerable approaches to democratic planning where these preconditions are not considered but which notwithstanding seem fruitful and useful for further analysis. From the double nature thesis it follows that these approaches cannot be considered simply as ploys, but they reflect authentic tendencies in capitalist societies. This goes especially for the romantic planning school, whose approach is analyzed. Finally, it is important to discuss more extensively the actual forms of democratic planning, i.e. those actual practices which constitute the framework for the planning process. Here it is a question of treading new ground entirely. There are some attempts at formulating some institutional arrangements, notably Kuenzlen's which, however, do not go very far. Also there is the tradition of soviet democracy which is a very rich source for further analysis. Further concretization will require empirical analysis and experimentation also but for this, much more theoretical work is needed.

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