On the Systematic and Historical Analysis of Concessionary Zones

Abstract Recent scholarship has emphasized the importance of extractive zones and enclaves in contemporary capitalism. This article seeks to understand the form of authority within these zones. To do so, it charts a brief genealogy of the concession, the reciprocal agreements entered into by states and companies that govern many extractive enclaves. Because concessions have a long, convoluted, and underexamined history, they are an ideal object for examining the shifting configurations of law, sovereignty, property, and government that undergird contemporary extraction. Neither simply public law nor private right, concessions are a unique legal form designed to produce nonsystematic and exceptional legal spaces that remain central to capitalist societies today.