Historical Sketches of Centralization vs. Decentralization
Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal · 2021
Chapter ) of the book explores the historical foundations of decentralized structures, starting with early hominids through Imperial China and the American Revolution. The primary goal of the chapter is to witness the central-decentral dichotomy in its evolutionary context to understand more fully their effects on organizations. The chapter evaluates the stabilizing effect of decentralization in context and contrasts it with the greater temporary effectiveness of centralization. History shows how dy- namic societies have always been. This dynamic perspective illustrates what freedom and power humanity has to reorganize social networks. The book can be accessed here: https://www.amazon.com/Decentralization-Technologies-Organizational-Societal-Struc- ture/dp/3110673924/ and here: https://www.degruyter.com/view/title/569051 Chapter 9. Historical sketches of centralization vs. decentralization Each advance in information technology has led to an improvement in humanity’s ability to organize. It is easy to observe the effect of these advances when power is centralized: you fol- low the choices of the central leader. Most recorded history is about centralized hi- erarchies. The “Great Man” version of historiography records the history of the deci- sions of kings and queens. It’s a popular perspective for historians, because it is easier than explaining how the more important story is the litany of changes in “little people’s lives”. The psychological state of Henry VIII is endlessly debated, even Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782193
Cite: Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Historical Sketches of Centralization vs. Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782193. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3782193
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