This article investigates the role of colonial pressure on state centralization and its relationship to subsequent development by analyzing the influence of Western colonial threats on Siam’s internal political reform. Unlike other countries in the region, Siam remained independent by adopting geographical administrative boundaries and incorporating its traditional governance structures into a new, centralized governance system. The authors find that the order in which areas were integrated into the centralized system depended on the interaction between precentralization political structures and proximity to British and French territorial claims. The authors show that areas centralized early in the process had higher levels of infrastructure investment and public goods provision at the time the centralization process was completed in 1915 than those centralized later in the process. They also show that early centralization during the Western colonial era continued to be strongly associated with higher levels of public goods provision and economic development, and that this relationship persists today.

中文翻译：

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集中化和发展之路：来自暹罗的证据

本文通过分析西方殖民威胁对暹罗内部政治改革的影响，探讨殖民压力对国家集权的作用及其与后续发展的关系。与该地区的其他国家不同，暹罗通过采用地理行政边界并将其传统治理结构纳入新的集中治理体系来保持独立。作者发现，地区融入中央集权体系的顺序取决于中央集权前的政治结构与接近英国和法国领土主张之间的相互作用。作者表明，在 1915 年中央集权过程完成时，在该过程早期集中的地区的基础设施投资和公共产品提供水平高于该过程后期集中的地区。他们还表明，西方殖民时代的早期中央集权继续与更高水平的公共产品供应和经济发展密切相关，并且这种关系一直持续到今天。