The growing presence of China in Africa has drawn increasing scholarly and public attention. With Beijing's announcement of the 'going global' policy in the early 2000s and further institutionalization through the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, Chinese policy banks and state-owned companies have cooperated with African countries to finance and complete multiple infrastructure projects. These projects, despite their 'Chinese-ness,' demonstrate starkly different development trajectories in different countries. Why do some Chinese-financed and constructed projects develop better than others? And what explains the variation in the effectiveness of different African states with regard to public goods delivery? The Railpolitik: Leadership and Agency in Sino-African Infrastructure Development uses three case studies of Chinese-financed and constructed rail projects to explore the broader phenomenon of the fast-progressing relations between China and Africa and to offer insights into African domestic politics. Relying primarily on over 250 in-depth interviews and unpublished documents collected during extensive fieldwork from 2014-2019 in Kenya, Ethiopia, Angola, and China, Yuan Wang traces the trajectories of the Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya, the Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway in Ethiopia, and the Caminho de Ferro de Benguela in Angola, and finds that African political championship is the central factor that determines the outcomes of this type of project. Contrary to the conventional understanding that centralized political institutions such as those in the developmental states are more conducive to rulers' commitment to developmental projects, the book finds that political championship can be generated from leaders' perceived threats of competitive elections in democratic states such as Kenya. These Chinese-financed and constructed projects coincided with African rulers' strategies for political survival, and are therefore instrumentalized politically to demonstrate rulers' performance legitimacy and to fuel their patronage machine. Oxford Studies in African Politics and International Relations is a series for scholars and students working on African politics and International Relations and related disciplines. Volumes concentrate on contemporary developments in African political science, political economy, and International Relations, such as electoral politics, democratization, decentralization, the political impact of natural resources, the dynamics and consequences of conflict, and the nature of the continent's engagement with the East and West. Comparative and mixed methods work is particularly encouraged. Case studies are welcomed but should demonstrate the broader theoretical and empirical implications of the study and its wider relevance to contemporary debates. The series focuses on sub-Saharan Africa, although proposals that explain how the region engages with North Africa and other parts of the world are of interest. Series Editors: Nic Cheeseman, Professor of Democracy and International Development, University of Birmingham; Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Professor of the International Politics of Africa, University of Oxford; Peace Medie, Senior Lecturer, School of Sociology, Politics, and International Studies, University of Bristol.

"Business History provides Canadian university and college students with a lively and accessible introduction to economic history and to the history of Canadian business. The book attempts to shed light on the functional history of business, and the underlying reasons for the success of countries like England, America and Japan.

Why don't trains run on time? Why are fares so expensive? Why are there so many strikes? Few would disagree that Britain's railways are broken, and have been for a long time. This insightful new book calls for a radical rethink of how we view the railways, and explains the problems we face and how to fix them. Haines-Doran argues that the railways should be seen as a social good and an indispensable feature of the national economy. With passengers and railway workers holding governments to account, we could then move past the incessant debates on whether our railways are an unavoidably loss-making business failure. An alternative vision is both possible and affordable, enabling the railways to play an instrumental role in decreasing social inequalities, strengthening the economy and supporting a transition to a sustainable future. This book is relevant to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 9, Industry, innovation and infrastructure

Tourism is one of the largest industries in the world, yet leisure travel is more than just economically important. It plays a vital role in defining who we are by helping to place us in space and time. In so doing, it has aesthetic, medical, political, cultural, and social implications. However, it hasn't always been so. Tourism as we know it is a surprisingly modern thing, both a product of modernity and a force helping to shape it. A History of Modern Tourism is the first book to track the origins and evolution of this pursuit from earliest times to the present. From a new understanding of aesthetics to scientific change, from the invention of steam power to the creation of aircraft, from an elite form of education to family car trips to see national 'shrines,' this book offers a sweeping and engaging overview of a fascinating story not yet widely known.

This new study brings together leading experts to show how the modern world began with the coming of the railway. They clearly explain why it had a greater impact than any other technical or industrial innovation before and completely redefined the limits of the civilized world. While the effect of railways on economic development is self-evident, little attention has been paid to their impact on international relations. This is unfortunate, for in the period from 1848 to 1945, railways were an important element in the struggle between the Great Powers. This took many forms. Often, as in East Asia, the competition for railway concessions reflected the clash of rival imperial interests. The success or failure of this competition could determine which of the European Powers was to dominate and exploit the markets of China and Siam. Just as often, railways were linked with military matters. Prussia’s success in the wars of German unification depended on its strategic railways just as much as on the strength of its armies, and the rail links remained a vital aspect of German military thinking before the First World War. So, too, did they for the Russians, whose vast Empire required rail links capable of moving the Tsarist army quickly and competently. Just as importantly, railways could be vital for Imperial defence, as the British discovered on the North-West frontier of India. This book will be of much interest to students of international history, military history and strategic studies.

This is the first critical work on the history of the French Riviera from its origins in the eighteenth century to the present day in the English language. It makes the argument that multi-faceted power and violence – war, murder, land dispossession and other privations targeted at the poor, imperialism and ecological degradation (land, sea, rivers and air) – has been integral to the making of the Côte d’Azur. Invariably, this has been downplayed in previous general histories that tend to focus on the personal lives and loves of famous outsiders. In effect, the complex general history of the place is rarely told. Bryant seeks to set that record straight in an innovative work crisscrossing the borders of European and imperial history, geography, politics and environmental studies that will be of interest to an array of scholars, students and general readers who wish to learn about how the planet’s most famous coastal resort was made.

Across American praries, through Siberian tundra, over Argentinian pampas and deep into the heart of Africa, the modern world began with the arrival of the railway. The shock was sudden and universal: railways carried empire, capitalism and industrialization to every corner of the planet. For some, the 'Iron Road' symbolized the brute horrors of modernity; for others the way toward a brighter future. From 1825, when the first passenger service linked Stockton and Darlington to the outbreak of World War I, Nicholas Faith presents an engaging and entertaining journey through the first century of rail, introducing visionaries, engineers, surveyors, speculators, financiers and navvies – the heroes and the rogues of the mechanical revolution that turned the world upside down. The railway was the most important invention of the 19th Century, and THE WORLD THE RAILWAYS MADE argues that in the 21st Century, with high speed lines that can compete with air travel and over 190 metro systems in 54 countries underpinning the world's greatest cities, it remains just as relevant.