The concept of “democratic socialism” is contested terrain, so there’s no better time than now to put forward ideas to clarify our long-term goals and short-term strategies. As Mathieu Desan and I recently argued in Jacobin, having a long-term vision that transcends capitalism and deepens democracy will help realize equality of opportunity and social solidarity — core principles that should guide any good society.

Where do Nordic social democracies fit into the vision for democratic socialism? It’s an important question, one raised by Matt Bruenig in a response to our piece. He agrees that the Soviet Union was not a democracy, because the state was unaccountable to the people. But he says that that critique doesn’t apply to Nordic countries, which are parliamentary democracies. Thus, to draw a hard line between our vision of democratic socialism and actually existing social democracies like Norway is wrong.

The point boils down to a simple question: do countries like Norway represent the limit of what we think a democratically run economy and society can look like? If they do, is social democracy the same thing as democratic socialism after all?