Transaction protocols for self-organizing systems of autonomous entities

Self-organizing systems of autonomous entities have gained
wide-spread attention in the research community. The most
difficult problem of such systems is that autonomous entities
may choose between cooperation and defection in the transactions
they participate. In internet based eCommerce, transaction
protocols (so-called exchange protocols) are applied for this
purpose.
Yet, it has been repeatedly conjectured that such protocols are
not applicable to self-organizing systems. Distributed
reputation systems have been proposed as a means of compensating
for such lack of applicability. Still, there is no analysis of
the applicability of transaction protocols and their
relationship with distributed reputation systems.