When we say “govern ourselves” we’re talking about exercising our muscles of deep democracy and being active participants in the decisions that shape our lives. We believe that capitalist and colonial governance structures which rule by force, military might, and punishment have severed us from the everyday practices of collective governance — and we must rebuild those muscles together.

In the words of NEC member Movement Generation, “if we’re not prepared to govern, we’re not prepared to win.” To practice solidarity and build economies that meet all of our needs, we need to be able to make decisions collectively about how we steward our resources, practice loving accountability, and move through conflicts generatively. We need to practice collective  self-governance at many scales — from the workplace to our community institutions to local governments, mass movements, and even regions. 

We can look to examples of large-scale self-governance like Rojava, the Caracoles in Chiapas, the landless workers movement in Brazil, and Emergency Response Rooms in Sudan. And at the same time, we can work to practice the skills we’ll need to govern at scale, little by little, in our everyday lives. By building worker-owned businesses, cooperative housing, community-stewarded land, and deeply democratic organizations, we can relearn the skills of collective decision-making and sharing power. 

This is a collection of resources to support participatory democracy and governance at the organizational level, coming from NEC’s own experience as a member-led network and a worker-self directed nonprofit (WSDN).  This isn’t the ultimate guide, just a way for NEC to share some of the resources we’ve come across or developed with our network. The way that we make decisions and share power together as a network is a core expression of our values and also a tremendous source of our strength. We hope this will help individuals, organizations, and networks to start and to continue conversations they’re having about how to practice the future together – to govern ourselves – in a more liberatory way. 

List published May 2025. To suggest an edit or additional resources for this list, please email info@neweconomy.net.

Foundations 

• All The Things We Don’t Have Answers To – Movement Generation Podcast (Starting at 33:25)
• Breathing Life into Democracy –  Nwamaka Agbo & Francisco Perez on Economics for Emancipation Podcast
• Communal, Command, Commodity Economy  – Economics for Emancipation 
• Ella Baker and the origins of “participatory democracy” 
• Just Transition Zine: From Banks & Tanks to Caring and Cooperation – Movement Generation
• Mapping Our Futures: Economics & Governance Curriculum – Highlander Center 

There’s No Such Thing As The Economy  – Kali Akuno and Penn Loh on Economics for Emancipation Podcast

Case Studies & inspiration in large-scale democratic governance 

• Brazil: Landless Workers Movement (MST)
• Latin America: Constructing Worlds Otherwise: Societies in Movement and Societies in Movement and Anticolonial Paths in Latin America 
• Mexico: Caracoles & Zapatista Rebel Autonomous Municipalities (MAREZ) in Chiapas
• South Africa: Abahlali baseMjondolo (Shackdwellers Movement)
• Spain: Co-ops and Solidarity: Reflections from Barcelona 
• Sudan: Emergency Response Rooms & Resistance Committees
• Syria: The Rojava Revolution & Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (DAANES) 
• United States: Co-Governing Toward Multiracial Democracy  

United States: From Self-Determination to Community-Determination: Black-led Commons in the United States (Ch 5)

Tools for Democratic Organizations

 To have a democratic organization or workplace, we’ve found we need: 

• Shared purpose & values: To make decisions together, we need to know where we’re going as a group and how we’re committed to showing up with each other.

• Democratic structure: The nuts and bolts of making decisions and moving work together. When we decide to move away from hierarchy as our default mode of organization, we need clear and transparent mechanisms to visibilize power and processes.
  
• Democratic culture: Without the everyday *practices* of democracy, power sharing, and honest communication, even the most perfect structure will fall short.

Download the PDF for the complete resource list!