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Europe's System Builders: The Contested Shaping of Transnational Road, Electricity and Rail Networks

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2007

ERIK VAN DER VLEUTEN ,
IRENE ANASTASIADOU ,
VINCENT LAGENDIJK  and
FRANK SCHIPPER
ERIK VAN DER VLEUTEN
Affiliation:
IPO 2.28, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, P.O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands; [email protected].
IRENE ANASTASIADOU
Affiliation:
IPO 2.28, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, P.O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands; [email protected].
VINCENT LAGENDIJK
Affiliation:
IPO 2.28, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, P.O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands; [email protected].
FRANK SCHIPPER
Affiliation:
IPO 2.28, Technische Universiteit Eindhoven, P.O. Box 513, NL-5600 MB Eindhoven, Netherlands; [email protected].
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Abstract

This article explores what kind of ‘Europe’ was produced in the processes of transnational infrastructure building. It focuses on international organisations dedicated to Europe's infrastructural integration as a promising research site, where infrastructural collaborations (or the lack thereof) were articulated and negotiated. Case studies of the Bureau International des Autoroutes (1931), the Union for the Coordination of Production and Transport of Electricity (1951) and the European Conference of Transport Ministers (1953) explore the challenges of transnational system building. They also suggest that Europe's infrastructural interlacing was a contested process, producing, if successful, multilayered networks in which corporate, national and meso-regional borders remain clearly discernable.

Les constructeurs d'infrastructures européennes: la création contestée des réseaux routiers, ferrés et d'électricité transnationaux

Cet article examine quelle ‘Europe’ a été construite au travers de l'implantation d'infrastructures transnationales. Il prend comme terrain de recherche les organisations internationales, qui se sont consacrées à l'intégration des infrastructures européennes, et au sein desquelles étaient négociées des initiatives (ou des insuffisances) de collaborations en termes d'infrastructures. Les cas étudiés, du Bureau International des Autoroutes (1931), à l'Union pour la coordination de la production et du transport d'électricité (1951) et à la Conférence européenne des ministres des Transports (1953), permettent d'explorer les enjeux de la construction de systèmes transnationaux. Chacun d'eux a permis d'éclairer la dimension conflictuelle de ce processus; lorsque celui-ci a rencontré le succès, il a produit des réseaux feuilletés, au sein desquels les frontières des corporations, des Etats et des régions sont restées clairement identifiables.

Europas systembauer: die umstrittene fomierung transnationaler straßen-, elektrizitäts- und eisenbahnnetzwerke

Dieser Artikel untersucht, welches ‘Europa’ in den Prozessen transnationaler Infrastrukturprojekte entstand. Er beschäftigt sich besonders mit den internationalen Organisationen und interpretiert sie als Orte, an denen Kooperationen (oder deren Mangel) im Bereich der Infrastruktur artikuliert und verhandelt wurden. Durch Fallstudien zum Bureau International des Autoroutes (1931), der Union for the Coordination of Production and Transport of Electricity (1951), und der European Conference of Transport Ministers (1953) werden die Herausforderungen an den Aufbau transnationaler Systeme erörtert. Der Aufbau solcher Verknüpfungen von Europas Infrastrukturen war ein umstrittener Prozeß. Wenn erfolgreich, ging er mit dem Aufbau vielschichtiger Netzwerke einher, innerhalb derer betriebsorganisatorische, nationale und meso-regionale Grenzen deutlich sichtbar blieben.

Type
Research Article
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , August 2007 , pp. 321 - 347
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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References

1 Ernst, Schönholzer, ‘Ein elektrowirtschaftliches Programm für Europa’, Schweizerische Technische Zeitschrift, 23 (5 June 1930)Google Scholar. All translations are by the authors unless otherwise noted.

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6 The selection of cases also reflects co-author expertise: Irene Anastasiadou works on European railway history, Vincent Lagendijk on electric power history and Frank Schipper on road history. See www.tie-project.nl.

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10 E.g. Gijs, Mom, ‘Roads without Rails: European Highway-Network Building and the Desire for Long-range Motorised Mobility’, Technology and Culture, 46, 4 (2005), 745–772Google Scholar; Léonard Laborie, ‘A Missing Link? Telecommunications Networks and European Integration 1945–1970’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, Networking Europe, 187–215; Pär Blomkvist, ‘Roads for peace! Lobbying for a European Highway System’, ibid., 161–85; Henrich-Franke, ‘Das Post- und Fernmeldewesen’; idem, ‘Founding’.

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14 For a survey of so-called large technical systems (LTS) research and a conceptual grounding of the Europe's system builders concept herein see Erik van der Vleuten, ‘Understanding Network Societies: Two Decades of LTS Studies’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, Networking Europe, 279–314.

15 See also Thomas, Hughes, ‘The Seamless Web: Technology, Science, et cetera, et cetera’, in Brian, Elliot, ed., Technology and Social Process (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1988), 9–19Google Scholar. Other concepts further specify how system builders work: they identify those elements lagging behind that restrain total system development (so-called ‘reverse salients’) – and articulate well-chosen ‘critical problems’ to work on.

16 Gunnar, Myrdal, ‘Twenty years of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’, International Organization, 22, 3 (1968), 617–28, at 626Google Scholar.

17 The key reference is Harro van Lente, Promising Technologies: The Dynamics of Expectations in Technological Developments (Delft: Eburon, 1993). Current approaches using this insight include Remco Hoogma et al., Experimenting for Sustainable Transport. The Approach of Strategic Niche Management (London: Spon Press, 2002); Boelie Elzen et al., eds., System Innovation and the Transition to Sustainability: Theory, Evidence and Policy (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2004).

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20 For instance, the director of HAFRABA, the German association planning a Hamburg–Basel motorway, contacted Thomas immediately. Hof to Thomas, 8 May 1931, Cabinet Albert Thomas, International Labour Organisation Archive, Geneva (hereafter CAT), 11A.1.1.

21 Mom, ‘Roads without Rails’, 755–6. By 1932 the network counted some 300 km of motorways, see Ingrid Strohkark, ‘Die Wahrnehmung von “Landschaft” und der Bau von Autobahnen in Deutschland, Frankreich und Italien’, Ph.D. dissertation, Hochschule der Künste, Berlin 2001, 85.

22 Bundesministerium fur Verkehr, HAFRABA – Bundesautobahn Hansestädte–Frankfurt–Basel: Rückblick auf 30 Jahre Autobahnbau (Wiesbaden: Bauverlag, 1962), 5; Lando Bortolotti, ‘I Congressi Autostradali Internazionali del 1931 e 1932 e le Prime Proposte di un Sistema Autostradale Europeo’, Storia Urbana, 75 (1996), 5–26.

23 Ingrid Heckmann-Strohkark, ‘Der Traum von einer Europäischen Gemeinschaft: Die Internationalen Autobahnkongresse 1931 und 1932’, in Martin Heller and Andreas Volk, eds., Die Schweizer Autobahn (Zürich: Museum für Gestaltung, 1999), 32–45.

24 Thomas cited in Guérin, Thomas, 90. See also Thomas to unknown, n.d., CAT 6A.6; Thomas to Chavenon, n.d., CAT 6B.7.4.2; speech Nyfeller, Premier Congrès International des Autoroutes, 2, CAT 11A.1.1.

25 Discours de M. Albert Thomas, IIme Congrès international des Autoroutes, CAT 6B.7.2.1.

26 Ibid.

27 Francis Delaisi, Les Deux Europes (Paris: Payot, 1929); ‘Rapport Présenté par M. Francis Delaisi sur le Développement des Routes et du Crédit sur Recoltes dans l'Est Européen’, October 1931, CAT 11C.7.3; ‘Rapport de M. Francis Delaisi sur le Financement d'un Programme de Grands Travaux Publics Européens’, July 1932, CAT 6B.7.1.1.

28 E.g. in his letter to Albanian government, Thomas to Beratti, 18 Dec. 1931, CAT 6B.7.4.2.

29 Procès-verbal du Ier Congrès International des Autoroutes, 1, D 600.1000.294.2, ILO Library; Lucien Lainé, ‘L'Autoroute du Nord’, Science et Industrie, CAT 11A.1.1.

30 Discours de M. Albert Thomas, 12, CAT 6B.7.2.1. On technocracy and infrastructures in Interwar Europe see Alexander Gall, ‘Atlantropa: Technological Visions of a United Europe’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, eds., Networking Europe, 99–127.

31 Jacques, Thomas, ‘Le Ier Congrès International des Autoroutes’, Revue Générale des Routes et de la Circulation Routière, 69 (1931), 303–15Google Scholar.

32 Procès-verbal des Travaux du IIme Congrès International des Autoroutes, D600.1000.294.2, ILO Archive, 15.

33 Letter 7 Apr. 1932, CAT 11D.1; [Nyffeler] to Puricelli, 31 Mar. 1932, CAT 6B.7.2.2; Bortolotti, ‘Congressi’, note 47.

34 Kurt, Kaftan, Der Kampf um die Autobahnen: Geschichte und Entwicklung des Autobahngedankens in Deutschland von 1907–1935 unter Berücksihtigung ähnlicher Pläne und Bestrebungen im übrigen Europa (Berlin: Wigankow, 1955), 188, fig. 65Google Scholar.

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36 Marcel Nyffeler, Règles Générales Programme Albert Thomas, n.d., 15–18. The Soviet Union was not included in the proposals either.

37 OIAR, Statutes, Art. 4, D.600.1000.294.2. There were originally three committees: Commission technique, Commission financière et juridique and a Commission du travail et des loisirs. This last was particularly marginal in the conference proceedings.

38 Evans to Clerc, n.d., CAT 11A.3.5.

39 Heckmann-Strohkark, ‘Autobahnkongresse’, 38.

40 Nyffeler, Règles Générales Programme Albert Thomas, 34 (columns 1, 2); Piero Puricelli, ‘La Rete Autostradale Europea’, Le Strade 14, 12 (1934), 732–3, at 733 (column 3).

41 J.L. to Fuss, 5 Feb. 1931, CAT 6B.7.1.

42 Annex 12, Procès-Verbal of the 2nd session, Advisory and Technical Committee for Communications and Transit, C.212.M.116.1922.VIII,45, League of Nations Archives, Geneva (hereafter LoN Archives).

43 Final Act, C.234.M.102.1931.VIII, 10 April 1931, 8. For further details see Records and Texts of the European Conference on Road Traffic, C.438.M.185.1931.VIII, LoN Archives.

44 Bortolotti, ‘Congressi’, 24. Mom holds that the proposals would have failed anyway: ‘Roads’, 762.

45 Thomas to Chavenon, n.d., CAT 6B.7.4.2.

46 Guérin, Thomas, 91, 95.

47 Discours de M. Albert Thomas, IIme Congrès international des Autoroutes, CAT 6B.7.2.1, 4.

48 J.L. to Fuss, 5 Feb. 1931, CAT 6B.7.1. In addition, some countries were unco-operative. The Soviet Union was provoked by the suggestion to use infrastructural projects as unemployment relief. Its response was brief and clear: there is no unemployment in the Soviet Union. See ‘Huge Building Program Abroad: National Public Works Projects Planned in Europe Will Cost $600,000,000’, Wall Street Journal, 29 Feb. 1931, CAT 6B.7.1.

49 ‘Questions internationals de travaux publics’, C.377.M.186.1933.VIII, 13 June 1933; ‘La Conférence de Londres et les Grands Travaux Internationaux’, Temps, August 1933, CAT 6B.7.2.1.

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56 UNIPEDE, Compte-rendu du Xe Congrès International, London 1955 (Paris: Imprimerie Chaix, 1955), 126–7.

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59 Transit: Electric question, Box R2572, section 9e, dossier 26461, document 29306: Note. Divers aspects de la question du transport et du transit de l'énergie électrique et notamment du problème de la création d'un réseau européen. LoN archives.

60 Maier, ‘Systems Connected’.

61 OEEC, Interconnected Power Systems in the USA and Western Europe: The Report of the Tecaid Mission, the Report of the Electricity Committee (Paris: OEEC, 1950), 9.

62 Ibid., 24 (emphasis added).

63 UCPTE 1951–1976, Annex XIV, Art. 2.

64 EL 1950, file OECD. EL (50)11, Electricity Committee, Memorandum by the special study group on the 1,035 MW Thermal Programme, Paris, 28 Feb. 1950. OEEC archives, Florence.

65 UCPTE 1951–1976, 159.

66 Ibid., 165–87.

67 UCPTE, Rapport annuel 1951–1952 (Paris: UCPTE, 1952).

68 UCPTE, UCPTE 1951–1971, 24.

69 CDO, 40 Years of Activity of the Central Dispatching Organisation of the Interconnected Power Systems, 1962–2002 (Prague: CDO, 2002), 2.

70 Rudolf Botzian, ‘Gesamteuropa: Starkstromnetze und politische Vernetzung’, in Stiftung Wissenschaft und Poltik Studienpapier, SWP – KA 3079 (1998), 7; Per Högselius, ‘Connecting East and West? Electricity Systems in the Baltic Region’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, Networking Europe, 245–75.

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75 Commission of the European Communities, European energy infrastructures. Document COM(2001)775, Brussels, 2001.

76 Geert Verbong, ‘Dutch Power Relations. From German Occupation to the French Connection’, in Van der Vleuten and Kaijser, Networking Europe, 217–43. Imports relative to net domestic production are calculated from DOE Energy Information Administration, International Energy Annual 2004, tables 6.1 and S.1, available at www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/international/electricitytrade.html (last visited 7 July 2006).

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83 Protocol Concerning the European Conference of Ministers of Transport (Brussels: ECMT, 1953), 5.

84 Ibid., 8, Art. 3.

85 www.cemt.org/cemtmemb.htm (last visited 5 March 2007).

86 Council of Ministers, Record of the Third Session 1955, no CM/M (55) 1, 13, ECMT archives, Paris.

87 Council of Ministers, Record of the Fifth Session, 1956, no CM/M (56) 2, 13, 14 and 15, ECMT archives, Paris.

88 Council of Ministers, Record of the Third Session, 12.

89 ECMT, Resolution No. 93/2 on infrastructure in a pan-European context. CEMT/CM(93)11/FINAL, Paris, 1993 (emphasis added). In 1989 Secretary-General Jan Terlouw immediately positioned transport as ‘a vital instrument of East–West integration in this new Europe’: 36th Annual Report (Paris: ECMT, 1989), 5.

90 ECMT, Annual report 2004 (Paris: ECMT/OECD, 2005), 7.

91 Protocol Concerning the European Conference of Ministers of Transport, 5, Art. 1.

92 First Report of the Activities of the Conference, 17. Cf. The Position of the European Railways, Difficulties, Causes and Possible Remedies (Paris: International Union of Railways, 1951).

93 It expanded the Regolamento Internazionale Veicoli (R.I.V.) of 1922: ‘Europ Wagon Pool’, Railway Gazette, 99 (1953), 94; ‘Pooling Railway Facilities in Europe’, Railway Gazette, 103 (1955), 92; ‘The Europ Wagon Pool’, Railway Gazette 113 (1960), 413.

94 First Report, p. 23; Resolution no. 9 (Paris: ECMT, 1954), 12; Second Report of the Activities of the Conference (ECMT, 1956), 35; ECMT Booklet, 28.

95 The Position of the European Railways, 17–24.

96 Janusz Kalinski, ‘Common Freight Car Pool (OPW) 1964–1990’, in Albert Carreras, Andrea Giuntini and Michèle Merger, eds., European Networks. A Companion Volume. EUI working paper HEC no. 95/1 (Badia Fiesolana: EUI, 1995), 35–7.

97 Henrich-Franke, ‘The Founding’; Second Report, 31.

98 Resolution No. 23 On short-term measures to improve international rail services CM(85)4 (Paris: ECMT, 1985).

99 Anacoreta Correira, 50 Years of ECMT: Transport Policies for a Greater Europe, Council of Europe doc. 9737 (Strasbourg: Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly, 2003).

100 http://europa.eu.int/comm/transport/rail/era/index_en.htm (last visited 10 April, 2006).