SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This article examines the politics of ecotourism, through an examination of how it intersects with broader shifts in the global system. In particular, it argues that the changes brought about by the end of the Cold War led to increasing forms of governance through public–private networks of actors that range from states to NGOs to private companies. This article focuses on the development of ecotourism policy in Madagascar as an example of how ecotourism is integrated into global politics through rising forms of what is often called ‘global governance’. It specifically investigates the politics of ecotourism as ideologically informed by neoliberal definitions of development which underpin global governance, and through an analysis of the interplay between different interest groups involved in it. It examines the operation of the Donor Consortium and its relationship to global environmental NGOs, in order to understand why ecotourism is promoted by organisations as diverse as the World Bank and environmental NGOs.