Replication: Reform, Rails, and Rice: Political Railroads and Local Development in Thailand

How do external threats on state sovereignty benefit local development? In this paper, we look at Thailand’s railroad projects in the late-19th and early 20th 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.