Reform, Rails, and Rice: Political Railroads and Local Development in Thailand
研究19世纪末20世纪初泰国为应对殖民威胁而修建铁路，如何通过加强中央对边远地区的行政控制，促进了这些地区的城市化和农业发展。
How do external threats to state sovereignty benefit local development? In this paper, we look at Thailand’s railroad projects in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries as an example of a state’s strategic response to colonial encroachment. By transporting government officials and establishing a permanent administrative presence, the railways served to ensure Thailand’s sovereignty over peripheral regions and bring them under direct governance. These regions, long considered economically unviable and disconnected from Bangkok, gained rail access due to their strategic importance and, in turn, witnessed urbanization and increased agricultural production.