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Iron Horses of Democracy

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Iron Horses of Democracy Iron Horses of Democracy [A theory-testing, comparative study of how railways affect democracy in small nation-states, and specifically in Jordan] Ronja Tallmyren Bachelor’s Thesis Political Science C Department of Government, Uppsala University Autumn 2020 Supervisor: Helen Lindberg Word count: 13 957 Page count: 36 Abstract A decline in railroad-building occurred in the 20th century, which made the world think of railways as something attributed to the 19th century. In the 21st century, however, so many new railway projects are planned all over the world, that I choose to call this ‘the world’s second wave of railway development’. Because of this, the development of the discipline studying railroads’ effects on democracy, peace and war has grown immensely in importance. I try to contribute to this discipline by studying railroads’ effects on democracy in small nation-states, and specifically in Jordan. I do this by conducting a theory-testing, comparative study, using the before-after research design and congruence method and by comparing Jordan with Sweden and Albania. My theory is that railroads lead to democracy and is constituted by several theories of effects of railways and Seymour Martin Lipset’s Modernization Theory. I show that railroads have promoted democracy or changes in democratic direction in all three of the studied cases and then discuss and compare these results in an analysis along with an answer to my question. I make some remarks about further studies and think that this essay is a precursor to future process-tracing studies. 1 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ..............................................................................................................................3 1.1. Problem formulation, aim and research question ..................................................................3 1.2. Previous Research ...............................................................................................................4 1.3. Choice of theory ..................................................................................................................5 1.3.1. The Modernization Theory ...........................................................................................5 1.3.2. Railroads, economic development and democracy ........................................................5 2. Method.......................................................................................................................................6 2.1. Theory-testing approach ......................................................................................................6 2.2. Choice of case study objects ................................................................................................8 3. Theory discussion ......................................................................................................................9 3.1. The Modernization Theory ..................................................................................................9 3.2. Railroads, economic development and democracy ............................................................. 11 4. Framework .............................................................................................................................. 14 5. Results ..................................................................................................................................... 15 5.1. The case of Sweden ........................................................................................................... 15 5.2. The case of Albania ........................................................................................................... 18 5.3. The case of Jordan ............................................................................................................. 20 5.3.1. Democracy and Jordan ............................................................................................... 22 6. Analysis and Discussion .......................................................................................................... 24 7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 27 8. References ............................................................................................................................... 29 Tables: Table 1.…..…..………………………………………………………………………………17 Table 2.……….………………………………………………………………………………20 Table 3.……….………………………………………………………………………………24 2 1. Introduction Walking on top of the Ten Arches Bridge south-east of Amman, which helped leading the Ottoman Hejaz-railway from Damascus to Medina through Jordan makes you think about the great hopes and plans behind it. It being listed on UNESCO’s Tentative List1 does not make you think less about it and talking to the natives and locals makes you think even more about the meaning of a railway. Living in a society where the railway is not questioned, but instead taken for granted as part of the culture and daily life you never even think about thinking about where the society would be without it. But as I also lived in Jordan, I got a bit to taste of that. Speaking to the people in Jordan I heard expressions and utterings like: “The government has been talking about a railway for many years now, saying that ‘now we will build it’, many years has gone by and we’re still waiting for that railway!”. Why do they wait so much for it? I thought, why is it so important? (Jordan has, which I will account for in a later section, a freight railway from Ma’an to Aqaba, but the people refer to a developed rail network for passengers throughout the country.) Searching further I realize that in many cases the building of a railway has been crucial. For example; it has been said that Great Britain could not have built an empire without it, the United States would indeed not be united without it but split into several countries and the Industrial Revolution and therefore the modernization would not have been possible without it.2 These are all examples from a time before the invention of the car and the emergence of paved roads, before the centralization and concatenation of countries, before the economic growths and emergence of democracies as we define and see them today. These are also examples from huge territories having to be linked together somehow before the emergence of paved roads, telephones, telegraphs, radios and fast post-delivery. Railroads have had important roles in war and are in many cases the symbol of power, colonial occupation, control and military strategies but are also, rather paradoxically with their class-divided carriages, the symbol of community, modernization, welfare, public goods, socio-economic changes and enabler of social mobility. The emergence of the railway synchronized cities, put distant places on the map, stroke down boundaries (e.g. by blasting through mountain ranges) and enabled and forced travelers to see different living conditions and mix with travelers from all social classes.3 1.1. Problem formulation, aim and research question The higher scientific purpose of this bachelor’s thesis is to examine and sort out why and how building of railroads has not ceased in importance and modernity but is still important for nation-building, economic development and democracy. Many might associate railroad- building with the 19th century, but this conception is what I should try to puncture. During a later part of the 20th century, many railway companies suffered from bankruptcy which led to the closing of many lines and stations all over the world. From this 1 UNESCO, Hejaz Railway 2 How Trains Changed The World, from now on abbreviated “HTCTW” 3 HTCTW 3 followed the devastation of many smaller communities, who were linked to the world thanks to the railway. Christian Wolmar, writer, has described this as “the post-war bonfire of lines”. However, new technologies, traffic congestion, and intensive discussions about the environmental damages revives and restores the role of the railways and in many countries trains never ceased in importance.4 Furthermore, when thinking about the morning and afternoon commute, there is no other transport that can take so many to and from work and school in an as economic and safe way as the trains. Only through the Shinjuku station in Tokyo, 3.5 million commuters pass every day.5 Today, what in my opinion can be called ‘the world’s second wave of railway development’, takes place. Reading the International Railway Journal, you can see that all over the world, hundreds and thousands of plans for new railway projects have been and are released rapidly this decade. All through Asia, railways were built by the British during the 19th century due to the colonialization and today we can see such a boom in Asia again and that is not the only place in the world. As I will account for in a later section, among others, Albania and Jordan have such plans. This is why I would refer to this as ‘the world’s second wave of railway development’, booming a century after the first wave. Owing to this boom, it is important to recognize that the biggest railway development is happening under autocratic regimes and, like under the British in the 19th century, it can in many ways be a form of colonization or a tool to gain and retain the power over strategic geopolitical areas. Stated aims of the projects are often peace, friendship and globalization but can just as easily have other incentives. With all this
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