Political and Socio-economic Theories and International Integration of Infrastructures

Abstract

Firstly the chapter provides an overview of political and socio-economic (economic sciences) theories which can be employed in order to trace the international integration of infrastructures. In a second step some of these theories are applied to empirical-historical facts. The functionalistic integration theory of political sciences is used to explain the integration in the telecommunications sector. For a general analysis of the integration of infrastructures the standardization theory of social sciences is applied. The economic perspective of the new institutional economics contributes the theory of path dependencies, which is tested as an explanatory means for transport integration in post-World War II Europe on the one hand and for the integration of specific facts in the railway sector since the nineteenth century and in the telecommunications sector in the twentieth century. Furthermore the theory of property rights is utilized for the examination of European radio integration in the post-World War II era.