Comment by jcgl

Most systemd components do rely on some core systemd components like systemd (the service manager) and journald. I would say that a core thesis of systemd is that Linux needs/needed a set of higher-level abstractions, and that systemd-the-service-manager has provided those abstractions. The fact that other parts of systemd-the-project rely on those abstractions does not imply that the project is monolithic.