IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/raagxx/v108y2018i4p1022-1037.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capitalism, Wealth, and Conservation in the Age of Security: The Vitalization of the State

Author

Listed:
  • Elizabeth Lunstrum

Abstract

This article illustrates how for-profit actors and private wealth vitalize state power, here in the form of advancing the state's project of militarized conservation. My contribution complements, first, the neoliberal natures and conservation literature, which largely sees state power as diminished by neoliberal processes or else reinvented as a handmaiden of capital. In contrast and by drawing in part on Gramscian perspectives of state natures, the study shows how capitalism and wealth help consolidate state power and do so by enabling green militarization. More specifically, drawing on the case of commercial rhino poaching in Southern Africa, I show how state power is vitalized by the contributions of for-profit military corporations and the private wealth of affluent benefactors financing rhino relocation. Vitalization here encompasses how these economic actors and their contributions help the state shore up power over territory and resources but at a deeper level enable biopolitical intervention in the realm of (rhino) life and (poacher) death. In so doing, these actors and contributions allow the state to further establish its own significance and centrality, that is, its own vitality. The article is hence a call for a more robust reinsertion of the state back into our investigations of the economy, nature, and conservation and especially their intersections. By bringing together the neoliberal conservation, Gramscian state natures, and green militarization literatures, the article equally offers a view into how these intersections can result in novel, often lethal forms of militarized state making.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Lunstrum, 2018. "Capitalism, Wealth, and Conservation in the Age of Security: The Vitalization of the State," Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 108(4), pages 1022-1037, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:raagxx:v:108:y:2018:i:4:p:1022-1037
    DOI: 10.1080/24694452.2017.1407629
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/24694452.2017.1407629
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/24694452.2017.1407629?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Koot, Stasja & Fletcher, Robert, 2021. "Donors on tour: Philanthrotourism in Africa," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. O’Leary Simpson, Fergus & Lwaboshi, Romain & Ikobo, Yves & Mulume, Papy, 2022. "Structuration of armed mobilisation in eastern DRC’s Kahuzi-Biega National Park," IOB Discussion Papers 2022.02, Universiteit Antwerpen, Institute of Development Policy (IOB).
    3. Schetter, Conrad & Mkutu, Kennedy & Müller-Koné, Marie, 2022. "Frontier NGOs: Conservancies, control, and violence in northern Kenya," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    4. Barry Ackers, 2024. "EL IMPACTO DE LA CAZA FURTIVA DE RINOCERONTES EN LA RENDICION DE CUENTAS DE UNA ORGANIZACION DE CONSERVACION FINANCIADA POR EL ESTADO(The impact of rhino poaching on the accountability disclosures of ," Revista Internacional de Gestión del Conocimiento y la Tecnología (GECONTEC), Revista Internacional de Gestión del Conocimiento y la Tecnología (GECONTEC), vol. 9(1), pages 65-81, March.
    5. Strong, Michael & Silva, Julie A., 2021. "‘We would like this place to be a town’: The benefits and challenges of rural development near protected areas," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:raagxx:v:108:y:2018:i:4:p:1022-1037. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/raag .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.