Pluralizing political forests.pdf (796.89 kB)
Pluralising political forests: unpacking “the State” by tracing Virunga's charcoal chain
journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 16:44 authored by Esther Marijnen, Judith VerweijenPeering 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
AntipodeISSN
0066-4812Publisher
WileyExternal DOI
Issue
4Volume
52Page range
996-1017Department 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
2019-02-04First Open Access (FOA) Date
2020-12-21First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2019-02-02Usage metrics
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