Replace the State: How to Change the World When Elections and Protests Fail (Book Review)

It is difficult to dismiss the idea that we are living in an era defined by polycrisis.Be they ecological, economic, or ethical, current events seem to communicate a persistent proximity to catastrophe.With each new injustice or source of instability, it is easy to feel as if resistance is fruitless, or that each perceived victory is simply the prefiguration of a new dilemma or disaster.In many ways, the communication of these seemingly dire circumstances is the opening gambit of Sasha Davis's new book Replace the State: How to Change the World When Elections and Protests Fail (2025).While not lengthy, the book is an ambitious project, addressing at once many of the most enduring injustices of our time like settler colonialism, material inequalities, state-based violence, and the many-headed hydra of the climate crisis (p. 1).Despite the global scale of these problems, and their distinctive makeup, Davis suggests an intriguing and unconventional solution for all of them -we must replace the state (p.2).While Davis has taught classes on governance and social movements in their role as a professor at Keene State College in New Hampshire, it is perhaps Davis's rich history as an activist that helps substantiate and texture the central claim of this book the most.Framed as the "newest social movements" by Davis (p.59), calls to replace the state seek to (re)claim a largely forgotten space in which to address political concerns, instead of contesting institutional conduct or seeking reforms through policy options (p.55).Far from advocating for temporary (counter)occupation or protest, replacing the state is about supplanting the existing institutions of governance in favour of local democratic control and collective action (p.59).Such a solution would seem