Democratic socialism

Democratic socialism is a description used by various socialist movements and organizations, to emphasize the democratic character of their political orientation.

Democratic socialists believe that socialism could be achieved through public elections and reform of the capitalist society, rather than through a revolution. Democratic socialists typically oppose the traditional socialist state type of government.

The term is sometimes used synonymously with "social democracy", but social democrats need not accept this label, and many self-identified democratic socialists oppose contemporary social democracy because social democracy retains the capitalist mode of production.