Editing Decentralization (section)

== In economic ideology ==
=== Libertarian socialism ===

[[File:Portrait of Pierre Joseph Proudhon 1865.jpg|thumb|right|[[Pierre Joseph Proudhon]], [[anarchist]] theorist who advocated for a decentralist non-state system which he called "federalism"<ref>Binkley, Robert C. Realism and Nationalism 1852–1871. Read Books. p. 118</ref>]]
[[Libertarian socialism]] is a [[political philosophy]] that promotes a non-hierarchical, non-bureaucratic society without [[private property|private ownership]] in the [[means of production]]. Libertarian socialists believe in converting present-day private [[productive property]] into [[the commons|common]] or [[public goods]].<ref name="theanarchistlibrary.org">"The revolution abolishes private ownership of the means of production and distribution, and with it goes capitalistic business. Personal possession remains only in the things you use. Thus, your watch is your own, but the watch factory belongs to the people."[http://www.revoltlib.com/?id=1138] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523195452/http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Alexander_Berkman__What_Is_Communist_Anarchism_.html|date=23 May 2012}} [[Alexander Berkman]]. "[[Now and After|What Is Communist Anarchism?]]" {{Cite book |url=http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Alexander_Berkman__What_Is_Communist_Anarchism_.html |title=What is Communist Anarchism? |access-date=5 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120523195452/http://theanarchistlibrary.org/HTML/Alexander_Berkman__What_Is_Communist_Anarchism_.html |archive-date=23 May 2012 |url-status=bot: unknown}}</ref> It promotes [[Free association (communism and anarchism)|free association]] in place of government, non-coercive forms for social organization, and opposes the various social relations of capitalism, such as [[wage slavery]].<ref>As [[Noam Chomsky]] put it, a consistent libertarian "must oppose [[Private property|private ownership of the means of production]] and the [[wage slavery]], which is a component of this system, as incompatible with the principle that labor must be freely undertaken and under the control of the producer". Chomsky (2003) [https://books.google.com/books?id=Y75K660UfzsC&pg=PA26 p. 26] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160505182237/https://books.google.com/books?id=Y75K660UfzsC&pg=PA26 |date=2016-05-05 }}</ref> The term ''libertarian socialism'' is used by some socialists to differentiate their philosophy from [[state socialism]],<ref>Paul Zarembka. Transitions in Latin America and in Poland and Syria. Emerald Group Publishing, 2007. p. 25</ref><ref>Guerin, Daniel. ''Anarchism: A Matter of Words'': "Some contemporary anarchists have tried to clear up the misunderstanding by adopting a more explicit term: they align themselves with libertarian socialism or communism." Faatz, Chris, ''Towards a Libertarian Socialism''.</ref> and by some as a synonym for [[left anarchism]].<ref name="Ostergaard 1991. p. 21">[[Geoffrey Ostergaard|Ostergaard, Geoffrey]]. "Anarchism". ''A Dictionary of Marxist Thought''. Blackwell Publishing, 1991. p. 21.</ref><ref name="Noam Chomsky 2004, p. 739">Chomsky (2004) p. 739</ref><ref>Ross, Jeffery Ian. [https://books.google.com/books?id=hX412xS2mkoC ''Controlling State Crime''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318222242/http://books.google.com/books?id=hX412xS2mkoC&printsec=frontcover |date=2015-03-18 }}, Transaction Publishers (2000) p. 400 {{ISBN|0-7658-0695-9}}</ref>

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><!-- can expand re Pi i Margall's Proudhonian Cantonal rebellion -->

=== Free market ===
Free market ideas popular in the 19th century such as those of [[Adam Smith]] returned to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s. [[Austrian School]] economist [[Friedrich von Hayek]] argued that free markets themselves are decentralized systems where outcomes are produced without explicit agreement or coordination by individuals who use prices as their guide.<ref>[[Marvin Victor Zelkowitz]], Editor, ''Advances in Computers, Volume 82'', [[Academic Press]], 2011, [https://books.google.com/books?id=eFGi_414Y-cC&dq=%22free+markets%22+are+decentralized&pg=PA3 p. 3] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528214504/https://books.google.com/books?id=eFGi_414Y-cC&pg=PA3|date=2016-05-28}}, {{ISBN|978-0123855138}}</ref> Eleanor Doyle writes that "[e]conomic decision-making in free markets is decentralized across all the individuals dispersed in each market and is synchronized or coordinated by the price system," and holds that an individual right to property is part of this decentralized system.<ref>Eleanor Doyle, ''The Economic System'', [[John Wiley & Sons]], 2005, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ckz-4WbzlsgC&dq=%22free+markets%22+are+decentralized&pg=PA61 p. 61] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160623224657/https://books.google.com/books?id=Ckz-4WbzlsgC&pg=PA61|date=2016-06-23}}, {{ISBN|978-0470015179}}</ref> Criticizing central government control, Hayek wrote in ''[[The Road to Serfdom]]'':

{{blockquote|There would be no difficulty about efficient control or planning were conditions so simple that a single person or board could effectively survey all the relevant facts. It is only as the factors which have to be taken into account become so numerous that it is impossible to gain a synoptic view of them that decentralization becomes imperative.<ref>[[Friedrich von Hayek]], ''The Road to Serfdom: Text and documents – the definitive edition; Volume 2 of Collected Works of F. A. Hayek'', edited by Bruce Caldwell, [[University of Chicago Press]], 2009, [https://books.google.com/books?id=qg61T_I1mwsC&q=F.%20A.%20Hayek%20Decentralization&pg=PA95 p. 94] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160515052215/https://books.google.com/books?id=qg61T_I1mwsC&pg=PA95 |date=2016-05-15 }}, {{ISBN|978-0226320533}}</ref>}}

According to [[Bruce M. Owen]], this does not mean that all firms themselves have to be equally decentralized. He writes: "markets allocate resources through arms-length transactions among decentralized actors. Much of the time, markets work very efficiently, but there is a variety of conditions under which firms do better. Hence, goods and services are produced and sold by firms with various degrees of horizontal and vertical integration." Additionally, he writes that the "economic incentive to expand horizontally or vertically is usually, but not always, compatible with the social interest in maximizing long-run consumer welfare."<ref name="Owen">[[Bruce M. Owen]], [http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/2007/7/v30n3-3.pdf Antecedents to Net Neutrality] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617120217/http://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/regulation/2007/7/v30n3-3.pdf|date=2013-06-17}}, [[Cato Institute]] publication "Regulation", Fall, 2007, p. 16.</ref>

It is often claimed that free markets and private property generate centralized monopolies and other ills; free market advocates counter with the argument that government is the source of monopoly.<ref>* [[Tibor R. Machan]], ''Private Rights & Public Illusions,'' Transaction Publishers, 1995, [[iarchive:privaterightspub00mach/page/99|<!-- quote="Big Business and the Rise of American Statism". --> p. 99]] {{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W1WFgQLS-RcC&pg=PA99 |title=Private Rights and Public Illusions |isbn=9781412831925 |access-date=14 November 2015 |archive-date=26 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160426054401/https://books.google.com/books?id=W1WFgQLS-RcC&pg=PA99 |url-status=bot: unknown |last1=Machan |first1=Tibor R. |publisher=Transaction Publishers }}, {{ISBN|978-1412831925}}
* Tibor R. Machan, editor, ''The Libertarian Alternative,'' Nelson-Hall, 1974 included Yale Brozen's, "Is Government the source of monopoly? and other essays", [[Cato Institute]], 1980; and [[Roy Childs]]' "Big Business and the Rise of American Statism", 1971, [[Reason (magazine)|Reason]].</ref> Historian [[Gabriel Kolko]] in his book ''The Triumph of Conservatism'' argued that in the first decade of the 20th century businesses were highly decentralized and competitive, with new businesses constantly entering existing industries. In his view, there was no trend towards concentration and monopolization. While there were a wave of mergers of companies trying to corner markets, they found there was too much competition to do so. According to Kolko, this was also true in banking and finance, which saw decentralization as leading to instability as state and local banks competed with the big [[New York City]] firms. He argues that, as a result, the largest firms turned to the power of the state and worked with leaders like [[United States Presidents]] [[Theodore Roosevelt]], [[William H. Taft]] and [[Woodrow Wilson]] to pass as "progressive reforms" centralizing laws like [[The Federal Reserve Act]] of 1913 that gave control of the monetary system to the wealthiest bankers; the formation of monopoly "public utilities" that made competition with those monopolies illegal; federal inspection of meat packers biased against small companies; extending [[Interstate Commerce Commission]] to regulating telephone companies and keeping rates high to benefit [[AT&T]]; and using the [[Sherman Antitrust Act]] against companies which might combine to threaten larger or monopoly companies.<ref>[[Gabriel Kolko]], ''The Triumph of Conservatism: A Reinterpretation of American History, 1900–1916'', Chapter Two: "Competition and Decentralization: The Failure to Rationalize Industry", Simon and Schuster, 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=jTyfQk1zMTYC&q=decentralization&pg=PA309 pp. 26–56, 141, 220, 243, 351] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160511084857/https://books.google.com/books?id=jTyfQk1zMTYC&pg=PA309|date=2016-05-11}}, {{ISBN|978-1439118726}}</ref><ref>Roy Childs, "[http://praxeology.net/RC-BRS.htm Big Business and the Rise of American Statism] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130130230406/http://praxeology.net/RC-BRS.htm|date=2013-01-30}}", [[Reason (magazine)|Reason]], 1971.</ref>

Author and activist [[Jane Jacobs]]'s influential 1961 book ''The Death and Life of American Cities'' criticized large-scale redevelopment projects which were part of government-planned decentralization of population and businesses to suburbs. She believed it destroyed cities' economies and impoverished remaining residents.<ref>John Montgomery, ''The New Wealth of Cities: City Dynamics and the Fifth Wave'', [[Ashgate Publishing]], Ltd., 2008, [https://books.google.com/books?id=5CCsHETenvMC&dq=Jane+Jacobs+decentralization&pg=PA2 p. 2] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160522041029/https://books.google.com/books?id=5CCsHETenvMC&pg=PA2|date=2016-05-22}}, {{ISBN|978-0754674153}}</ref> Her 1980 book ''The Question of Separatism: Quebec and the Struggle over Sovereignty'' supported secession of [[Quebec]] from [[Canada]].<ref>Jane Jacobs, ''The Question of Separatism: Quebec and the Struggle over Sovereignty'', (1980 Random House and 2011 Baraka Books), {{ISBN|978-1926824062}}</ref> Her 1984 book ''Cities and the Wealth of Nations'' proposed a solution to the problems faced by cities whose economies were being ruined by centralized national governments: decentralization through the "multiplication of sovereignties", meaning an acceptance of the right of cities to secede from the larger nation states that were greatly limiting their ability to produce wealth.<ref>Gopal Balakrishnan, ''Mapping the Nation'', Verso, 1996,  [https://books.google.com/books?id=hdrfDqF3fLoC&dq=Jane+Jacobs+Cities+and+the+wealth+of+nations+multiplication+of+sovereignties&pg=PA277 p. 277] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610105415/https://books.google.com/books?id=hdrfDqF3fLoC&pg=PA277|date=2016-06-10}}, {{ISBN|978-1859840603}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first1=Jane |last1=Jacobs|title=Cities and the Wealth of Nations: Principles of Economic Life|publisher=[[Vintage Books]]|year=1984|isbn=0-394-72911-0}}</ref>