This month we are delighted to be joined by Markus Kröger, professor of Global Development Studies at University of Helsinki. Markus has joined the show before as a founder of the EXALT Initiative and as a PI in the Trees for Development project. This time Markus is here to talk to us about his new book from University of Cambridge Press, Clearcut: Political Economies of Deforestation. This open access book will be published open access in October 2025. Markus gives us a sneak peek into the key topics of the book, primarily the mechanisms of regionally dominant political economies (RDPE) and the role they play in driving extractive sectors. To make this novel theorization, Markus looked at cattle capitalism in Brazil, narco-gold in the Amazon, and paper pulping in Finland. Markus shows how these three different RDPEs drive deforestation in their respective locations.  

Interested in reading Clearcut? https://www.cambridge.org/fi/universitypress/subjects/earth-and-environmental-science/environmental-policy-economics-and-law/clearcut-political-economies-deforestation?format=HB&isbn=9781009389549  

Interested in learning more about Markus’ work? https://researchportal.helsinki.fi/en/persons/markus-kr%C3%B6ger  

Interest in the Trees For Development Project? https://www.helsinki.fi/en/researchgroups/trees-for-development