Tropical forests in the global states system

The purpose of this article is to point to an inherent ambivalence within international society related to tropical forests. As peripheral and often relatively insulated terrestrial spaces, tropical forests have been subject to enduring attempts by state structures to consolidate political authority and their connection to nodes of economic power. However, as they have come to be increasingly degraded and cleared, policy reform agendas have been enacted to promote their conservation. Involving a range of state and non-state actors at a national and international level, forest policy reform agendas have sought to create a structure of economic incentives aimed at their ‘sustainable management’ and thus their preservation as forests. Paradoxically, a key impact of these evolving agendas has been to further the extension of state power. Arguing that this points to a deep-seated tension within international society related to the governance of peripheral spaces, it will be suggested that state-making ambitions have tended to shape and ultimately negate international tropical forest conservation initiatives.