Nationalism is the source of the greatest threat to the modern progressive state and super-state (eg the EU) today. But, in another era, it's not hard to imagine the opposite being the case as it was yesterday, if only because progressivism is the dominant ethos today.
The true antitheses of concentration of power in the state, is quite simply, decentralization. This can take many forms, such as libertarianism, anarchy, or distributism. Without a centralized, imperious authority to impose order from on high, doctrines that don't accord with and complement human nature will be discarded. I speak of course of progressivism. Progressivism is unnatural, and thus requires the state to continually prop it up. People, left to their own devices without the cudgel of the state to back it, would not nearly be so leftist.
The true antitheses of concentration of power in the state, is quite simply, decentralization. This can take many forms, such as libertarianism, anarchy, or distributism. Without a centralized, imperious authority to impose order from on high, doctrines that don't accord with and complement human nature will be discarded. I speak of course of progressivism. Progressivism is unnatural, and thus requires the state to continually prop it up. People, left to their own devices without the cudgel of the state to back it, would not nearly be so leftist.