Introduction: Colonial Anxieties, Corruption Scandals, and Xenophobia in Nineteenth-Century Infrastructure Development in Romania.

This thematic cluster examines the intertwined roles of colonial anxieties, corruption scandals, and xenophobia in the development of nineteenth-century transportation infrastructure in the Romanian Principalities (later Romania) from the 1840s to 1914. It highlights how foreign involvement in major infrastructure projects, such as railway concessions led by foreign capital and expertise, generated fears of economic and demographic colonization, particularly by German interests, and fueled nationalist and anti-Semitic discourses. The cluster historicizes the contested meanings of "colonialism" and "corruption" as key concepts in Romanian nation-building, showing how infrastructure scandals became focal points for debates about sovereignty, modernization, and ethnic othering. By analyzing political debates, public controversies, and specific cases like the Strussberg railway affair, the articles reveal how Romania negotiated its semi-peripheral position amid Great Power influences while striving for national independence and modernization.