Constructing civil society? Green money in transition Hungary

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper examines the construction of green money, a civil society-based initiative in Hungary as a case study of the ‘institutional’ approach to the transition from command to market economies in East/Central Europe, which argues for the development of civil society organizations to facilitate structural changes in the economy. The paper compares programmes developed endogenously in Hungary through the diffusion of ideas about sustainability and economic democracy through international activist networks with those developed by a Hungarian NGO with support from western aid agencies. For the former, green money was a radical project aimed at developing alternative forms of livelihood through localized money networks, while for the latter it was a tool for ameliorating transition through the construction of mutual aid and community feeling. The paper points to problems in building new civil society institutions, arguing that while some of the difficulties encountered were technical problems that reflect the poor performance of green money as a development tool, other problems reflect more structural, political and cultural problems. The paper argues that over-optimistic conceptualizations of the potential of civil society in the facilitation of inclusive transition need to be more cognisant of the difficulties in constructing civil society from the outside.