Centralization vs democratization is a weird dichotomy and is loaded with priors. "King bad, democracy good." But democracies have turned out to be some of the most centralized power structures. They are clearly not the opposite of empire. On the other hand, the monarchies of middle ages of Europe composed probably the most decentralized large scale power structure in history. Over one thousand independent polities sent men to fight in the crusades, the greatest act of decentralized coordinated action in human history. The opposite of centralization is distribution, isn't it? And the ordering of the relationship between the two is subsidiarity, right? It's a thinker. I am always amazed at the way precise words can reveal our assumptions.