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Decentralisation: A multidisciplinary perspective

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  • Bodó, Balázs
  • Brekke, Jaya Klara
  • Hoepman, Jaap-Henk

Abstract

Decentralisation as a concept is attracting a lot of interest, not least with the rise of decentralised and distributed techno-social systems like Bitcoin, and distributed ledgers more generally. In this paper, we first define decentralisation as it is implemented for technical architectures and then discuss the technical, social, political and economic ideas that drive the development of decentralised, and in particular, distributed systems. We argue that technical efforts towards decentralisation tend to go hand-in-hand with ambitions for rearranging power dynamics. We caution, however, against simplistic understandings of power in relation to the decentralisation-centralisation spectrum, and argue that in practice, decentralisation might very well be served by and produce centralising effects. The paper then goes on to discuss the critical literature that highlights some of the common assumptions and critiques made about decentralisation and the pros and cons of a decentralised approach. Finally, we propose some of the missing parts to current debates about decentralisation, and argue for a more nuanced and grounded approach to the centralisation/decentralisation dichotomy.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:iprjir:235966
    DOI: 10.14763/2021.2.1563
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. De Filippi, Primavera & Loveluck, Benjamin, 2016. "The invisible politics of Bitcoin: governance crisis of a decentralised infrastructure," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 5(3), pages 1-28.
    2. Nathan Schneider, 2019. "Decentralization: an incomplete ambition," Journal of Cultural Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 265-285, July.
    3. Jaya Klara Brekke, 2021. "Hacker-engineers and Their Economies: The Political Economy of Decentralised Networks and ‘Cryptoeconomics’," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 646-659, July.
    4. Schneider, Nathan, 2019. "Decentralization: An Incomplete Ambition," OSF Preprints m7wyj, Center for Open Science.
    5. Davidson, Sinclair & De Filippi, Primavera & Potts, Jason, 2018. "Blockchains and the economic institutions of capitalism," Journal of Institutional Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 14(4), pages 639-658, August.
    6. Mirowski, Philip & Nik-Khah, Edward, 2017. "The Knowledge We Have Lost in Information: The History of Information in Modern Economics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780190270056.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jacobs, Mattis & Kurtz, Christian & Simon, Judith & Böhmann, Tilo, 2021. "Value Sensitive Design and power in socio-technical ecosystems," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 10(3), pages 1-26.
    2. Villar-Onrubia, Daniel & Marín, Victoria I., 2022. "Independently-hosted web publishing," Internet Policy Review: Journal on Internet Regulation, Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG), Berlin, vol. 11(2), pages 1-11.

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