Centralism is the concentration of political power into central governing bodies that each govern a very large area of land, a very large amount of natural resources, a very large number of people, and/or a large variety of people, whereas decentralism is the diffusion of political power to smaller areas of land, smaller quantities of people, and/or fewer varieties of people. In the future, the world, and various countries, may move toward either centralism or decentralism.