When complete power and the resources of a system or community are housed and controlled in a central location, perhaps by a single person, that community is centralized. Orders come from the top down. Such concentrated power makes it difficult for an individual person to have much control over his or her own life (Gevers, 2014).
 

Communities used to be relatively small, up to maybe 70 people. They all knew and trusted each other. Because of this, it was difficult to betray the group (Gevers, 2014). These communities were decentralized. 

 

However, with the invention of agriculture, centralized power grew out of necessity (Gevers, 2014). Small communities became larger, and with growth came a loss of trust between people(Gevers, 2014). It is much more difficult for 1000 people to know and trust each other than 70!
 

As these communities grew, powerful men and women rose up to lead them (Gevers, 2014), concentrating power and taking control of all the resources within their reach. Think of Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, or Boudicca, who forged large communities out of disparate smaller tribes. Their type of rule became the new system of trust. And so it has been, more or less, since (Gevers, 2014).
 

But, with various liberating technological inventions like the printing press and most recently the internet, centralized power systems are in jeopardy of losing their power. These advances in technology have enabled the possibility of establishing trust once again, but on a global scale (Gevers, 2014).

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Decentralization is back on the table.