Monetary system, monetary constitution, growth imperative, Transitions Initiatives, decommodification

Abstract: The paper focuses first on successfully best-practice cases of alternative monetary systems introduced by so called Transitions Initiatives. Second, the paper is keen to assess different possible attributes of an alternative monetary constitution to empower communities to emancipate individually and organize collectively bottom-up a transition process towards a permacultural non-growth local economy (i.e. stationary economy in terms of Herman Daly). The third endeavor of this paper is to discuss the potential of a complementary monetary system within social movements as mean to decommodificate resources, and to set up a self-organized new market mechanism coupled to the social needs of a free and pluralistic society and the reproductive bio-capacity of the nature. The paper considers the institution of money not only as mean of information to distribute and clear market produce, but also as mean of political participation, mean of social bonding (e.g. in terms of collaborative-production) and eventually a mean of information with regard to individual behavior as cultural driver to form new normative orders for conviviality.