Territorialization, enclosure and neoliberalism: non-state influence in struggles over Madagascar's forests

Using the case of the expansion of Madagascar's protected areas, this paper examines 'state' territorialization under neoliberalism as a process that involves non-state as well as state institutions. Challenging notions of state territorialization as a state controlled process, it reveals the state as a vehicle through which numerous non-state entities sought to expand their control of and authority over Madagascar's forests. It argues that, as state and non-state entities negotiated Madagascar's protected area boundaries, associated rights and acceptable uses, they determined not only claims to forest lands, but also the authority to make forest policy and to decide who could accumulate wealth from Madagascar's forests. Ultimately, the expansion entailed practices of primitive accumulation by enclosing common lands and creating new opportunities for private capital accumulation.