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Decentralization: an incomplete ambition

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  • Nathan Schneider

Abstract

Decentralization is a term widely used in a variety of contexts, particularly in political science and discourses surrounding the Internet. It is popular today among advocates of blockchain technology. While frequently employed as if it were a technical term, decentralization more reliably appears to operate as a rhetorical strategy that directs attention toward some aspects of a proposed social order and away from others. It is called for far more than it is theorized or consistently defined. This non-specificity has served to draw diverse participants into common political and technological projects. Yet even the most apparently decentralized systems have shown the capacity to produce economically and structurally centralized outcomes. The rhetoric of decentralization thus obscures other aspects of the re-ordering it claims to describe. It steers attention from where concentrations of power are operating, deferring worthwhile debate about how such power should operate. For decentralization to be a reliable concept in formulating future social arrangements and related technologies, it should come with high standards of specificity. It also cannot substitute for anticipating centralization with appropriate mechanisms of accountability.

Suggested Citation

  • Nathan Schneider, 2019. "Decentralization: an incomplete ambition," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 265-285, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jculte:v:12:y:2019:i:4:p:265-285
    DOI: 10.1080/17530350.2019.1589553
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    Cited by:

    1. Campbell-Verduyn, Malcolm, 2021. "Conjuring a cooler world? Blockchains, imaginaries and the legitimacy of climate governance," Global Cooperation Research Papers 28, University of Duisburg-Essen, Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research (KHK/GCR21).
    2. Bodó, Balázs & Brekke, Jaya Klara & Hoepman, Jaap-Henk, 2021. "Decentralisation: A multidisciplinary perspective," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 10(2), pages 1-21.
    3. Johannes Sedlmeir & Reilly Smethurst & Alexander Rieger & Gilbert Fridgen, 2021. "Digital Identities and Verifiable Credentials," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 63(5), pages 603-613, October.
    4. Silvia Semenzin & David Rozas & Samer Hassan, 2022. "Blockchain-based application at a governmental level: disruption or illusion? The case of Estonia [A systematic analysis of applications of blockchain in healthcare]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 41(3), pages 386-401.
    5. Matringe, Nadia & Power, Michael, 2024. "Memories lost: A history of accounting records as forms of projection," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    6. Matringe, Nadia & Power, Michael, 2024. "Memories lost: a history of accounting records as forms of projection," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120410, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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