Libertarian municipalism is a term first used by libertarian socialist theorist Murray Bookchin, and is used to describe a system in which libertarian institutions of directly democratic assemblies would oppose and replace the state with a confederation of free municipalities. While originally conceived as being within the framework of political Anarchism, Bookchin later broke with the anarchist movement and in his final essay "The Communalist project", identified libertarian municipalism as the main component of his own political ideology Communalism.
Libertarian municipalism uses the libertarian socialist strategy of dual power to create a situation in which the two powers — the municipal confederations and the nation-state — cannot coexist. Communalists believe that it is the means to achieve a rational society, and that its structure would become the organization of society.