TY - JOUR
T1 - Reform, Rails, and Rice
T2 - Political Railroads and Local Development in Thailand
AU - Paik, Christopher
AU - Vechbanyongratana, Jessica
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2024.
PY - 2024/9/1
Y1 - 2024/9/1
N2 - 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.
AB - 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.
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U2 - 10.1017/S0022050724000238
DO - 10.1017/S0022050724000238
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85208047706
SN - 0022-0507
VL - 84
SP - 807
EP - 837
JO - Journal of Economic History
JF - Journal of Economic History
IS - 3
ER -