State making through conservation: The case of post-conflict Nepal

In this article we use the case of post-conflict Nepal to advance political ecological analyses conservation violence, securitization, and militarization role environmental governance in state-making. During civil war 1996–2006, Maoist insurgents controlled most rural Nepal, including several national parks. insurgents' occupation parks supported their goal establishing a parallel state. Following war's cessation, Nepali government has worked remake state areas formerly under control. We conducted an ethnographic study Nepal's Chitwan National Park its buffer zone, employing participant observation, semi-structured interviews, document analysis. Territoriality territorialization are constitutive concepts our analysis view zones as internal territorializing practices for extending power over people nature. found that Army's is expanding, agency increasingly militarized, policy shifted toward securitization. Buffer zone legislation regulation, document, grants Army sweeping powers surveillance law enforcement hundreds communities countless farms pastures. residents experience imminent presence daily lives. Based on findings argue securitization strategically important government's efforts reassert spaces buttress them against future peasant-based insurrections.