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== History ==
{{Integralism}}
[[File:Alexis de Tocqueville.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Alexis de Tocqueville]]]]
The word "''centralisation''" came into use in France in 1794 as the post-[[French Revolution|Revolution]] [[French Directory]] leadership created a new government structure. The word "''décentralisation''" came into usage in the 1820s.<ref>Vivien A. Schmidt, ''Democratizing France: The Political and Administrative History of Decentralization'', [[Cambridge University Press]], 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsltI4XKXTUC&pg=PA22 p. 22] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505110712/https://books.google.com/books?id=ZsltI4XKXTUC&pg=PA22 |date=2016-05-05 }}, {{ISBN|978-0521036054}}</ref> "Centralization" entered written English in the first third of the 1800s;<ref>[[Barbara Levick]], ''Claudius'', Psychology Press, 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=rTDNNO4_IMAC&pg=PA81 p. 81] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602225624/https://books.google.com/books?id=rTDNNO4_IMAC&pg=PA81 |date=2016-06-02 }}, {{ISBN|978-0415166195}}</ref> mentions of decentralization also first appear during those years. In the mid-1800s [[Alexis de Tocqueville|Tocqueville]] would write that the French Revolution began with "a push towards decentralization
Ideas of liberty and decentralization were carried to their logical conclusions during the 19th and 20th centuries by anti-state political activists calling themselves "[[Anarchism|anarchists]]", "[[Libertarianism|libertarians]]", and even decentralists. [[Tocqueville]] was an advocate, writing: "Decentralization has, not only an administrative value but also a civic dimension since it increases the opportunities for citizens to take interest in public affairs; it makes them get accustomed to using freedom. And from the accumulation of these local, active, persnickety freedoms, is born the most efficient counterweight against the claims of the central government, even if it were supported by an impersonal, collective will."<ref name=EarthInstitute>[http://www.ciesin.org/decentralization/English/General/history_fao.html A History of Decentralization] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130511000503/http://www.ciesin.org/decentralization/English/General/history_fao.html |date=2013-05-11 }}, [[Earth Institute]] of [[Columbia University]] website, ''accessed February 4, 2013''.</ref> [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]] (1809–1865), influential anarchist theorist<ref>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia Americana |editor=George Edward Rines |year=1918 |publisher=Encyclopedia Americana Corp. |location=New York |oclc=7308909 |page=624 |title-link=Encyclopedia Americana }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Peter |title=Émile Durkheim |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |year=1995 |isbn = 978-0415110471 |page=79}}</ref> wrote: "All my economic ideas as developed over twenty-five years can be summed up in the words: agricultural-industrial federation. All my political ideas boil down to a similar formula: political federation or decentralization."<ref>"Du principe Fédératif" ("Principle of Federation"), 1863.</ref>
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=== Goals ===
Decentralization in any area is a response to the problems of centralized systems. Decentralization in government, the topic most studied, has been seen as a solution to problems like economic decline, government inability to fund services and their general decline in performance of overloaded services, the demands of minorities for a greater say in local governance, the general weakening legitimacy of the [[public sector]] and global and international pressure on countries with inefficient, undemocratic, overly centralized systems.<ref name=Daun>Holger Daun, ''School Decentralization in the Context of Globalizing Governance: International Comparison of Grassroots Responses,'' Springer, 2007, [https://books.google.com/books?id=nYHXnyzGggkC&dq=goals+of+decentralization&pg=PA28 pp. 28–29] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160617152055/https://books.google.com/books?id=nYHXnyzGggkC&pg=PA28 |date=2016-06-17 }},
{{ISBN|978-1402047008}}</ref> The following four goals or objectives are frequently stated in various analyses of decentralization.
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; Appropriate size
Gauging the appropriate size or scale of decentralized units has been studied in relation to the size of sub-units of hospitals<ref>Robert J. Taylor, Susan B. Taylor, ''The Aupha Manual of Health Services Management'', Jones & Bartlett Learning, 1994, p. 33, {{ISBN|978-0834203631}}</ref> and schools,<ref name=Daun/> road networks,<ref>Frannie Frank Humplick, Azadeh Moini Araghi, "[http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/1996/09/01/000009265_3961214192049/Rendered/PDF/multi_page.pdf Is There an Optimal Structure for Decentralized Provision of Roads?]", [[World Bank]] Policy Research Working Paper, 1996, p. 35.</ref> administrative units in business<ref>Abbass F. Alkhafaji, ''Strategic Management: Formulation, Implementation, and Control in a Dynamic Environment'', [[Psychology Press]], 2003, p. 184, {{ISBN|978-0789018106}}</ref> and public administration, and especially town and city governmental areas and decision-making bodies.<ref>Ehtisham Ahmad, Vito Tanzi, ''Managing Fiscal Decentralization'', Routledge, 2003, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qzcVmaqpitwC&dq=%22appropriate+size%22+government+decentralization&pg=PA182 p. 182] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160527064232/https://books.google.com/books?id=qzcVmaqpitwC&pg=PA182 |date=2016-05-27 }}, {{ISBN|978-0203219997}}</ref><ref>Aaron Tesfaye, ''Political Power and Ethnic Federalism: The Struggle for Democracy in
In creating [[Planned community|planned communities]] ("new towns"), it is important to determine the appropriate population and geographical size. While in earlier years small towns were considered appropriate, by the 1960s, 60,000 inhabitants was considered the size necessary to support a diversified job market and an adequate shopping center and array of services and entertainment. Appropriate size of governmental units for revenue raising also is a consideration.<ref>Harry Ward Richardson, ''Urban economics'', Dryden Press, 1978, [https://archive.org/details/urbaneconomics0000rich <!-- quote="appropriate size" . --> pp. 107, 133, 159] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513073909/https://books.google.com/books?ei=Gr0bUerHCofB0QG6v4Ag&id=d9YpAQAAMAAJ&q=%22appropriate+size%22+ |date=2016-05-13 }}.</ref>
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Accordingly, libertarian socialists believe that "the exercise of [[Power (philosophy)|power]] in any institutionalized form – whether economic, political, religious, or sexual – brutalizes both the wielder of power and the one over whom it is exercised".<ref>{{cite book | last=Ackelsberg | first=Martha A. |author-link=Martha Ackelsberg | title=[[Free Women of Spain: Anarchism and the Struggle for the Emancipation of Women]] | page=41 | year=2005 | publisher=[[AK Press]] | isbn=978-1902593968}}</ref> Libertarian socialists generally place their hopes in decentralized means of [[direct democracy]] such as [[libertarian municipalism]], citizens' assemblies, or [[workers' council]]s.<ref>{{cite book | last=Rocker | first=Rudolf | title=Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice | page=65 | year=2004 | publisher=[[AK Press]] | isbn=978-1902593920 }}</ref> Libertarian socialists are strongly critical of coercive institutions, which often leads them to reject the legitimacy of the state in favor of anarchism.<ref>Spiegel, Henry. ''The Growth of Economic Thought'' Duke University Press (1991) p. 446</ref> Adherents propose achieving this through decentralization of political and economic power, usually involving the socialization of most large-scale [[private property]] and enterprise (while retaining respect for [[personal property]]). Libertarian socialism tends to deny the legitimacy of most forms of economically significant private property, viewing capitalist property relations as forms of domination that are antagonistic to individual freedom.<ref>Paul, Ellen Frankel et al. ''Problems of Market Liberalism'' Cambridge University Press (1998) p. 305</ref><ref>However, libertarian socialism retains respect for personal property.</ref>
Political philosophies commonly described as libertarian socialist include most varieties of [[anarchism]] (especially [[anarcho-communism]], [[Collectivist anarchism|anarchist collectivism]], [[anarcho-syndicalism]],<ref>{{cite book | last=Sims | first=Franwa | title=The Anacostia Diaries As It Is | page=160 | year=2006 | publisher=Lulu Press}}</ref> [[social anarchism]] and [[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualism]])<ref>[http://www.mutualist.org/id32.html A Mutualist FAQ: A.4. Are Mutualists Socialists?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090609075437/http://www.mutualist.org/id32.html |date=2009-06-09 }}. Mutualist.org. Retrieved on 2011-12-28.</ref> as well as [[autonomism]], [[Communalism (Bookchin)|communalism]], participism, [[libertarian Marxist]] philosophies such as [[council communism]] and [[Luxemburgism]],<ref name="Graham-2005">Murray Bookchin, ''Ghost of Anarcho-Syndicalism''; [[Robert Graham (historian)|Robert Graham]], ''The General Idea of Proudhon's Revolution''</ref> and some versions of [[utopian socialism]]<ref>Kent Bromley, in his preface to [[Peter Kropotkin]]'s book ''[[The Conquest of Bread]]'', considered early French utopian socialist [[Charles Fourier]] to be the founder of the libertarian branch of [[Socialism|socialist]] thought, as opposed to the authoritarian socialist ideas of [[François-Noël Babeuf|Babeuf]] and [[Philippe Buonarroti|Buonarroti]]." [[Peter Kropotkin|Kropotkin, Peter]]. ''The Conquest of Bread'', preface by Kent Bromley, New York and London, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1906.</ref> and [[individualist anarchism]].<ref>"[[Benjamin Tucker|(Benjamin) Tucker]] referred to himself many times as a socialist and considered his philosophy to be "Anarchistic socialism." ''[[An Anarchist FAQ]]'' by Various Authors</ref><ref>French individualist anarchist [[Émile Armand]] shows clearly opposition to capitalism and centralized economies when he said that the individualist anarchist "inwardly he remains refractory – fatally refractory – morally, intellectually, economically (The capitalist economy and the directed economy, the speculators and the fabricators of single are equally repugnant to him.)"[http://www.spaz.org/~dan/individualist-anarchist/library/emile-armand/life-activity.html "Anarchist Individualism as a Life and Activity" by Emile Armand] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120728211629/http://www.spaz.org/~dan/individualist-anarchist/library/emile-armand/life-activity.html |date=2012-07-28 }}</ref><ref>Anarchist Peter Sabatini reports that In the United States "of early to mid-19th century, there appeared an array of communal and "utopian" counterculture groups (including the so-called [[free love]] movement). [[William Godwin]]'s anarchism exerted an ideological influence on some of this, but more so the socialism of [[Robert Owen]] and [[Charles Fourier]]. After success of his British venture, Owen himself established a cooperative community within the United States at [[New Harmony, Indiana]] during 1825. One member of this commune was [[Josiah Warren]] (1798–1874), considered to be the first [[individualist anarchist]]"[http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Peter_Sabatini__Libertarianism__Bogus_Anarchy.html Peter Sabatini. "Libertarianism: Bogus Anarchy"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503100657/http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Peter_Sabatini__Libertarianism__Bogus_Anarchy.html |date=2012-05-03 }}</ref> For [[Murray Bookchin]] "In the modern world, anarchism first appeared as a movement of the peasantry and yeomanry against declining feudal institutions. In Germany its foremost spokesman during the Peasant Wars was [[Thomas Muenzer]]; in England, Gerrard Winstanley, a leading participant in the Digger movement. The concepts held by Muenzer and Winstanley were superbly attuned to the needs of their time – a historical period when the majority of the population lived in the countryside and when the most militant revolutionary forces came from an agrarian world. It would be painfully academic to argue whether Muenzer and Winstanley could have achieved their ideals. What is of real importance is that they spoke to their time; their anarchist concepts followed naturally from the rural society that furnished the bands of the peasant armies in Germany and the New Model in England."<ref>[http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Lewis_Herber__Murray_Bookchin___Ecology_and_Revolutionary_Thought.html Lewis Herber. (Murray Bookchin) "Ecology and Revolutionary Thought"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515215001/http://www.theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Lewis_Herber__Murray_Bookchin___Ecology_and_Revolutionary_Thought.html |date=2012-05-15 }}. Theanarchistlibrary.org (2009-04-27). Retrieved on 2011-12-28.</ref> The term "anarchist" first entered the English language in 1642, during the [[English Civil War]], as a [[Pejorative|term of abuse]], used by [[Cavalier|Royalists]] against their [[Roundhead]] opponents.<ref name=BBC-Anarchism/> By the time of the [[French Revolution]] some, such as the ''[[Enragés]]'', began to use the term positively,<ref>Sheehan, Sean. ''Anarchism'', London: [[Reaktion Books]], 2004. p. 85.</ref> in opposition to [[Jacobin (politics)|Jacobin]]
For [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]], [[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualism]] involved creating "[[industrial democracy]]", a system where workplaces would be "handed over to democratically organised workers' associations . . . We want these associations to be models for agriculture, industry and trade, the pioneering core of that vast federation of companies and societies woven into the common cloth of the democratic social Republic."<ref>Guerin, Daniel (ed.) ''No Gods, No Masters'', AK Press, vol. 1, p. 62</ref> He urged "workers to form themselves into democratic societies, with equal conditions for all members, on pain of a relapse into feudalism." This would result in "Capitalistic and proprietary exploitation, stopped everywhere, the wage system abolished, equal and just exchange guaranteed."<ref>''The General Idea of the Revolution'', Pluto Press, pp. 277, 281</ref> Workers would no longer sell their labour to a capitalist but rather work for themselves in co-operatives. [[Anarcho-communism]] calls for a [[Federalism#Federalism as the Anarchist Mode of Political Organization|confederal]] form in relationships of mutual aid and [[Free association (communism and anarchism)|free association]] between communes as an alternative to the [[centralism]] of the [[nation-state]]. [[Peter Kropotkin]] thus suggested that "Representative government has accomplished its historical mission; it has given a mortal blow to court-rule; and by its debates it has awakened public interest in public questions. But to see in it the government of the future socialist society is to commit a gross error. Each economic phase of life implies its own political phase; and it is impossible to touch the very basis of the present economic life-private property – without a corresponding change in the very basis of the political organization. Life already shows in which direction the change will be made. Not in increasing the powers of the State, but in resorting to free organization and free federation in all those branches which are now considered as attributes of the State."<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 December 2023 |title=Anarchist Communism: Its Basis and Principles |url=https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/kropotkin-peter/1927/anarchist-communism.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230812192734/https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/kropotkin-peter/1927/anarchist-communism.html |archive-date=August 12, 2023 |website=marxists.org}}</ref> When the [[First Spanish Republic]] was established in 1873 after the abdication of King Amadeo, the first president, Estanislao Figueras, named [[Francesc Pi i Margall]] Minister of the Interior. His acquaintance with Proudhon enabled Pi to warm relations between the Republicans and the socialists in Spain. Pi i Margall became the principal translator of Proudhon's works into Spanish<ref>[[George Woodcock]]. ''Anarchism: a history of libertarian movements''. p. 357</ref> and later briefly became president of Spain in 1873 while being the leader of the Democratic Republican Federal Party. According to [[George Woodcock]] "These translations were to have a profound and lasting effect on the development of [[Spanish anarchism]] after 1870, but before that time Proudhonian ideas, as interpreted by Pi, already provided much of the inspiration for the federalist movement which sprang up in the early 1860s."<ref>George Woodcock. ''Anarchism: a history of libertarian movements''. p. 357</ref> According to the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' "During the Spanish revolution of 1873, Pi y Margall [[Cantonal Revolution|attempted to establish a decentralized, cantonalist political system]] on Proudhonian lines."<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/22753/anarchism/66525/Anarchism-in-Spain#ref539322 "Anarchism"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140424210641/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/22753/anarchism/66525/Anarchism-in-Spain |date=2014-04-24 }} at the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' online.</ref>
=== Free market ===
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{{See also|Peer-to-peer|Web3}}
In [[blockchain]], decentralization refers to the transfer of control and decision-making from a centralized entity (individual, organization, or group thereof) to a distributed network. Decentralized networks strive to reduce the level of trust that participants must place in one another, and deter their ability to exert authority or control over one another in ways that degrade the functionality of the network.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Anderson|first=Mally|date=2019-02-07|title=Exploring Decentralization: Blockchain Technology and Complex Coordination|url=https://jods.mitpress.mit.edu/pub/7vxemtm3/release/2|journal=Journal of Design and Science|language=en
[[cryptocurrency|Cryptocurrencies]] use cryptographic proofs such as [[proof-of-work|proof of work]] (e.g. [[Bitcoin]]) or [[proof of stake]] (e.g. [[Cardano (blockchain platform)|Cardano]]) as a means of establishing decentralized consensus.
Decentralized protocols, applications, and ledgers (used in [[Web3]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zarrin |first1=Javad |last2=Wen Phang |first2=Hao |last3=Babu Saheer |first3=Lakshmi |last4=Zarrin |first4=Bahram |title=Blockchain for decentralization of internet: prospects, trends, and challenges |journal=Cluster Computing |date=December 2021 |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=2841–2866 |doi=10.1007/s10586-021-03301-8 |pmid=34025209 |pmc=8122205 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1002/9781119621201.ch1 |chapter=Blockchain |title=Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology Applications |year=2020 |last1=Gururaj |first1=H. L. |last2=Manoj Athreya |first2=A. |last3=Kumar |first3=Ashwin A. |last4=Holla |first4=Abhishek M. |last5=Nagarajath |first5=S. M. |last6=Ravi Kumar |first6=V. |pages=1–24 |isbn=9781119621164 |s2cid=242394449 }}</ref>) could be more difficult for governments to regulate, similar to difficulties regulating [[BitTorrent]] (which is not a blockchain technology).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wright |first1=Aaron |last2=De Filippi |first2=Primavera |title=Decentralized Blockchain Technology and the Rise of Lex Cryptographia |date=10 March 2015 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.2580664 |ssrn=2580664 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=McGinnis |first1=John |last2=Roche |first2=Kyle |title=Bitcoin: Order Without Law in the Digital Age |journal=Indiana Law Journal |date=October 2019 |volume=94 |issue=4 |pages=6 |url=https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/ilj/vol94/iss4/6/ }}</ref>▼
▲Decentralized protocols, applications, and ledgers (used in [[Web3]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zarrin |first1=Javad |last2=Wen Phang |first2=Hao |last3=Babu Saheer |first3=Lakshmi |last4=Zarrin |first4=Bahram |title=Blockchain for decentralization of internet: prospects, trends, and challenges |journal=Cluster Computing |date=December 2021 |volume=24 |issue=4 |pages=2841–2866 |doi=10.1007/s10586-021-03301-8 |pmid=34025209 |pmc=8122205 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1002/9781119621201.ch1 |chapter=Blockchain |title=Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology Applications |year=2020 |last1=Gururaj |first1=H. L. |last2=Manoj Athreya |first2=A. |last3=Kumar |first3=Ashwin A. |last4=Holla |first4=Abhishek M. |last5=Nagarajath |first5=S. M. |last6=Ravi Kumar |first6=V. |pages=1–24 |isbn=9781119621164 |s2cid=242394449 }}</ref>) could be more difficult for governments to regulate, similar to difficulties regulating [[BitTorrent]] (which is not a blockchain technology).
=== Appropriate technology ===
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[[Category:Organization design]]
[[Category:Cyberpunk themes]]
[[Category:Military tactics]]
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