 In the mid-twentieth century, a range of scholars argued for two, closely linked theses concerning the relation of Neo-Confucians to imperial power. The first was the Autocracy Thesis, according to which imperial power began to grow in the Song dynasty, eventually reaching despotic levels in later dynasties. The second was the Inward-Turn Thesis, which held that Neo-Confucians largely abdicated from engagement in political affairs, especially after the loss of northern China (Liu 1988). In recent decades, though, new scholarship has shown quite convincingly that ministerial and literati power remain significant throughout the Song, and that Neo-Confucians remain politically engaged (Bol 2008: 119; Levey 1991: 545f). The nature of the political engagement does change, however. Rather than seeing Neo-Confucians as simply advocating an inward turn, it is more accurate to see them as often favoring a localist, decentralized approach to governance. Among other things, they come to see non-state spaces as extremely important to successful change at wider levels of the state. This is not to say that Neo-Confucians abandon efforts to educate, direct, and serve the emperor, and strong emperors early in the Ming and Qing dynasties manage to bring the focus back to themselves for periods of time. Overall, though, the emphasis of Neo-Confucian theories of governance is nicely captured in the modern slogan “think globally, act locally”.