Three decades on from the euphoria accompanying the end of the Cold War, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the celebrated victory of liberal democracy and global capitalism, we are now in a very different historical conjuncture. Globalisation and liberal democracy are increasingly called into question in a world of escalating but inter-linked crises. These range from growing wealth inequalities, climate emergency, heightened geopolitical tensions and the rise of far-right populism feeding on disaffection by many people and places who feel increasingly economically and politically marginalised. While such problems defy easy solutions, an alternative to the elite private capture of economic development agendas is urgently required. In this talk I focus upon the resurgence of publicly owned alternatives at local and municipal levels and consider the opportunities but also constraints facing these initiatives in constructing democratic alternatives for social and ecological justice.