Economic democracy is most often defended by pointing to the so-called “firm-state analogy.” Hannes Kuch’s recent plea for economic democracy in an earlier post in this series is no exception, arguing that “if being subjected to state government requires democracy, so does being subjected to corporate government. This is the consequence from the analogy between the firm and the state.” This argument presents economic democracy as a project of extension. It takes the existence of political democracy (and the arguments justifying it) for granted and argues democracy should be extended to the economic sphere. Practically, this can be done by granting voting rights to workers and possibly other stakeholder groups (such as suppliers, consumers, or local communities) within the management of firms. Debates about political democracy on the other hand—both in academia and in the public arena—rarely even refer to the economic sphere. Many political theorists lament the thin, representative nature of democracy in modern liberal democracies and argue in favor of more deliberative, participative, and/or direct forms of democracy. Democratic innovations such as citizens’ …