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2016 | Buch

Integration of Infrastructures in Europe in Historical Comparison

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This book compares the cross-border integration of infrastructures in Europe such as post, telecommunication and transportation in the 19th century and the period following the Second World War. In addition to providing a unique perspective on the development of cross-border infrastructures and the international regimes regulating them, it offers the first systematic comparison of a variety of infrastructure sectors, identifies general developmental trends and supplies theoretical explanations. In this regard, integration is defined as international standardization, network building and the establishment of international organizations to regulate cross-border infrastructures.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter
Chapter 1. Introduction, State of the Art and Definitions
Abstract
The introductory chapter covers European transnational infrastructure integration in the nineteenth and twentieth century as a whole. Firstly the reader is provided with an overview of the current state of the art. After that follows a definition of infrastructures which employs categories such as rivalry/excludability, external effects, sunk costs, natural monopolies, public ownership and regulations. These categories then serve as a matrix for a survey of the history of infrastructure networks and their long-term trends and alterations. Furthermore the chapter defines the term integration and explains the various ways and forms in which transnational contacts between national infrastructure networks can come about. Finally the reader is presented with an outline of common aims of transnational infrastructure integration in the nineteenth and twentieth century in the fields of railways, inland navigation, postal services, telecommunication and radio, of the national and international organizations utilized and of the level of integration, which was achieved in this process.
Gerold Ambrosius, Christian Henrich-Franke
Chapter 2. Infrastructural Integration in the Nineteenth Century
Abstract
For the period starting in the second half of the nineteenth century and leading up to the First World War a detailed description of the development of transnational infrastructure networks is given. At the same time similarities and differences between railways, inland navigation, postal services, telegraphy, telephony and radio are explored with special regard to international cooperation (structures), political negotiations (processes) and international standards for technical, operational, administrative, and legal or tariff parameters (contents).
Gerold Ambrosius, Christian Henrich-Franke
Chapter 3. Infrastructural Integration in the Twentieth Century
Abstract
The genesis of transnational connections between national infrastructure networks during the second half of the twentieth century is illustrated in detail. At the same time similarities and differences between railways, inland navigation, postal services, telecommunication and radio are explored with special regard to international cooperation (structures), political negotiations (processes) and international standards for technical, operational, administrative, and legal or tariff parameters (contents).
Gerold Ambrosius, Christian Henrich-Franke
Chapter 4. Relationship Between Organisational Structures, Political Processes and Agreed Standards
Abstract
The chapter deals with the causal relationships between the international organizations which had been set up since the nineteenth century, with the political processes leading towards the corresponding treaties and with the contents of the agreed standards, which enabled transnational connections between national infrastructural systems. The principal aim is to deliver insight into the interaction of structures, processes and contents. To achieve this one variable is regarded as independent and the other two as dependent.
Gerold Ambrosius, Christian Henrich-Franke
Chapter 5. Political and Socio-economic Theories and International Integration of Infrastructures
Abstract
Firstly the chapter provides an overview of political and socio-economic (economic sciences) theories which can be employed in order to trace the international integration of infrastructures. In a second step some of these theories are applied to empirical-historical facts. The functionalistic integration theory of political sciences is used to explain the integration in the telecommunications sector. For a general analysis of the integration of infrastructures the standardization theory of social sciences is applied. The economic perspective of the new institutional economics contributes the theory of path dependencies, which is tested as an explanatory means for transport integration in post-World War II Europe on the one hand and for the integration of specific facts in the railway sector since the nineteenth century and in the telecommunications sector in the twentieth century. Furthermore the theory of property rights is utilized for the examination of European radio integration in the post-World War II era.
Gerold Ambrosius, Christian Henrich-Franke
Chapter 6. Conclusion
Abstract
Historical research has been exploring the evolution of infrastructures for a long time, but historical infrastructure research itself can be considered as a fairly recent subdiscipline. This applies in particular to studies focusing on cross-border international network connections. We have analysed this topic from the perspective of political and economic history using primarily methods and theories from the political and economic sciences. In this volume we have neither covered important infrastructures such as road traffic, electricity, oil or gas pipelines or aviation nor applied other important approaches derived from technical or cultural history and, consequently, from cultural or social theory. We have also chosen not to explore the economic, political, cultural and social consequences of international infrastructure integration. Infrastructures themselves are only technological systems, but they have a vital importance for different dimensions of society. It would be possible to design a whole research programme which would have to ask a multitude of questions about history and would certainly inspire current systematic infrastructure research. The present volume is therefore just a beginning. The topic of international infrastructure integration will never lose its relevance. There are plans to transfer solar energy from Africa to Europe in the near future. The railway networks between Asia and Europe will be connected more closely and even connections between Asia and North America are within the realms of possibility. A growing network of gas pipelines is envisaged between Russia and Europe, but also between the Asian countries. In comparison the expansion of trans-European networks seems rather conventional, but is high on the European Commission’s agenda. Overall the expansion of international infrastructure connections will only gain importance in the future, both on a European and a global level.
Gerold Ambrosius, Christian Henrich-Franke
Backmatter
Metadaten
Titel
Integration of Infrastructures in Europe in Historical Comparison
verfasst von
Gerold Ambrosius
Christian Henrich-Franke
Copyright-Jahr
2016
Electronic ISBN
978-3-319-22467-1
Print ISBN
978-3-319-22466-4
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22467-1