Centralization Versus Pluralism

by Charles P. Kindleberger

The world is currently in the throes of two opposed political and economic one set of forces leading to the integration of sovereign states as in the European Union, NAFTA and ASEAN, the other, inside many countries, leading to separation with separate sovereignty - or, less dramatically, leading to devolution with a shift of power from the center to states, provinces, localities or even towns. This book focusses on the last issue, primarily through a historical analysis of the problem in several countries, some decentralized like the Dutch Republic in the 17th and 18th centuries, and Germany in the 19th and 20th, some centralized like France and Britain, some with complex mixtures such as Canada, the United States and Japan. In oversimplified terms, its conclusion in ordinary times, decentralization is both more democratic and more open to economic and social experiment and innovation but, in crisis, centralization of power is strongly desirable. A major difficulty is that, in most cases, institutional inertia makes it impossible to switch back and forth in timely fashion. Charles P. Kindleberger is Ford International Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

102 pages, Hardcover

First published February 28, 1996

About the author

Economic historian. More at Wikipedia