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Pluralising political forests: unpacking “the State” by tracing Virunga's charcoal chain

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 16:44 authored by Esther Marijnen, Judith Verweijen
Peering through the lens of illegal charcoal production in the forested areas of Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, this paper makes a case for disaggregating the notion of “the state” to better capture “the political” in contemporary political forests. It argues that to identify the fluctuating importance of different dimensions of “stateness”, it is crucial to acknowledge the polymorphous socio-spatial relations that produce political forests. Thus, we draw on the notions of territory, place, scale and network (TPSN) to examine how “stateness” in Virunga has transformed under the particularisation, transnationalisation, and regionalisation of authority. This approach allows us to show how these processes do not only stem from neoliberalisation, but are also driven by, inter alia, regional warfare and non-state militarisation. The resulting complexity of the regulatory landscape turns Virunga into a space marked by a plurality of partly overlapping and partly conflicting political forests.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Antipode

ISSN

0066-4812

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

4

Volume

52

Page range

996-1017

Department affiliated with

  • International Relations Publications

Research groups affiliated with

  • Sussex Centre for Conflict and Security Research Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2019-02-04

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2020-12-21

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-02-02

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