The aim of this essay was to describe the power elite of the Swedish town Karlshamn, and its influences on the local political process before the realization of the narrow-gauge railway Karlshamn-Wislanda-Jernväg. During the mid 19th century, a revolutionary period began in the Swedish pre-industrial epoch. The political and institutional regulatory frameworks were disassembled and restructured, away from protectionism and centrally controlled administration, for the benefit of free trade, local self-government and liberalism. The changes were carried through during times marked by a drastic increasing native population and upcoming demands for adjustments to meet the growth of the industrial-, trade- and labour markets. An essential industrial development factor was the building of the national railway network, which started after some important decisions in the Swedish Riksdag during the 1850´s. In close connection with governmental initiatives to build national trunk lines, processes on the local political arenas were initiated to rapidly obtain connections to these planned main lines. Focus in this study was put on the town Karlshamn 1855-1874 and the main document sources that were examined consisted of protocols and petitions from errands on the local political arenas, f.e. the town council. The material was methodically revised by means of a network- and field analysis. Through this analytical method it was possible to confirm the power elite actors, their potential networks and reproduced groups. The results point to the importance of the formal networks an their contributions to the accumulation of social capital. Above all, this was significant for the most important individuals in the process, the local wholesale dealers Edvard Ferdinand Meyer and Carl Gustaf Berg. The process also resulted in a reproduction of local political power, and the dominance on the political field was continued. All through the twenty-year lasting process, the railway issue became a possibility for the local elite, with representatives from the trading companies, to mobilize the political decisions in the direction of continuous economic development, and enlargement of the town´s commercial area. In the town of Karlshamn, with a stagnating economy, the new infrastructure, beside the connection to the main national lines, constituted a lifeline towards continuous financial expansion and competitiveness.

<p>The aim of this essay was to describe the power elite of the Swedish town Karlshamn, and its influences on the local political process before the realization of the narrow-gauge railway Karlshamn-Wislanda-Jernväg. During the mid 19th century, a revolutionary period began in the Swedish pre-industrial epoch. The political and institutional regulatory frameworks were disassembled and restructured, away from protectionism and centrally controlled administration, for the benefit of free trade, local self-government and liberalism. The changes were carried through during times marked by a drastic increasing native population and upcoming demands for adjustments to meet the growth of the industrial-, trade- and labour markets. An essential industrial development factor was the building of the national railway network, which started after some important decisions in the Swedish Riksdag during the 1850´s. In close connection with governmental initiatives to build national trunk lines, processes on the local political arenas were initiated to rapidly obtain connections to these planned main lines. Focus in this study was put on the town Karlshamn 1855-1874 and the main document sources that were examined consisted of protocols and petitions from errands on the local political arenas, f.e. the town council. The material was methodically revised by means of a network- and field analysis. Through this analytical method it was possible to confirm the power elite actors, their potential networks and reproduced groups. The results point to the importance of the formal networks an their contributions to the accumulation of social capital. Above all, this was significant for the most important individuals in the process, the local wholesale dealers Edvard Ferdinand Meyer and Carl Gustaf Berg. The process also resulted in a reproduction of local political power, and the dominance on the political field was continued. All through the twenty-year lasting process, the railway issue became a possibility for the local elite, with representatives from the trading companies, to mobilize the political decisions in the direction of continuous economic development, and enlargement of the town´s commercial area. In the town of Karlshamn, with a stagnating economy, the new infrastructure, beside the connection to the main national lines, constituted a lifeline towards continuous financial expansion and competitiveness.</p>

The East African Community (EAC) suffers from a critical lack of cross-border railway networks that, if remedied, could improve regional connectivity and boost intraregional trade. The region would also become more investor friendly. Cross-border railway connectivity is particularly important owing to the challenging geographical location and small, uncompetitive and inefficient Partner States. The EAC Partner States have embarked on an ambitious programme to jointly revamp the region’s railways to address the transport deficits. Joint implementation of transport infrastructure projects offers economies of scale. However, joint efforts are constrained by inefficiencies of the region’s legal and institutional frameworks. The region is characterised by inefficient legal and institutional frameworks. This research argues that it is critical to first address the legal and institutional bottlenecks which will in turn constitute the backbone to support EAC’s efforts towards development and sustainable management of cross-border railways in the EAC. The research reviews effectiveness of the existing legal and institutional frameworks, identifies gaps and, using Southern African Development Community (SADC) as a benchmark proposes solutions for improvement. / Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / gm2015 / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / Unrestricted