Economics is understood by many as an established discipline. It is about "allocation of scarce resources" and the main actors are firms consumer/households and the state. In the present essay, an alternative definition of economics in terms of multidimensional thinking and democracy is proposed and the main actors in the economy are "political economic persons" and "political economic organizations".
It is argued that the now dominant neoclassical theory is specific not only in scientific but also in ideological terms and that the same holds for any alternative paradigm. In relation to present challenges, such as climate change and biodiversity loss, neoclassical theory and the related neoliberalism, being behind the present political economic system, has not been performing well enough. While not excluding action within the scope of mainstream theory, we therefore need to extend the research and educational agenda in economics to alternative paradigms and ideological orientations. A political economics view is proposed which claims to be compatible with democracy.