Smuggling and Illicit Trade in the Era of Globalization
with Max Gallien; 2026, Oxford Bibliographies in Legal History

Smuggling refers to the covert movement of goods, people, and capital across borders in ways that challenge legal and political authority. Beyond criminal or security framings, scholarship has shown how smuggling has shaped states, markets, borderlands, and social orders across historical and contemporary contexts. This bibliography introduces key literature on smuggling, including its role in state-building, conflict, governance, informal economies, and border regimes, while highlighting the field’s interdisciplinary methods and debates.

The Politics of Passage: Studying Checkpoints and Claim Making in Conflict-affected Settings
with Peer Schouten, Vanessa van den Boogaard, Max Gallien, Shalaka Thakur; 2026, Development and Change

Roadblocks, or checkpoints, are obligatory passage points that are erected by entities claiming authority over a given crossing. They are often the most common everyday interface between civilians and armed actors in conflict-affected contexts, but are overlooked in studies on either trade or authority amidst conflict. This article, which introduces a special issue on the topic, argues that roadblocks are a useful empirical entry point to questions regarding the practical, political and theoretical interplay of economic circulation and political contestation. It proposes the framework of ‘the politics of passage’, which focuses on the entangled struggles over movement and authority arising from the interaction of a claim to the right of passage and claims to power over it. Through this politics of passage a range of broader social, political and economic claims are made and contested. Within this framework, checkpoints are a privileged field site and useful heuristic device to understand the relationship between trade, conflict and authority in contexts of contested statehood. Roadblocks function as critical nodes where otherwise implicit claims by states and non-state actors are made explicit in the encounter — or confrontation — between people, capital and goods on the move, and those who claim authority over them. Understanding the nature of these claims, and what shapes the types of claim making that emerge in different contexts, is a central contribution of this article.

Taliban Arms Management Practices
with Ashley Jackson and Maiwand; 2023, Small Arms Survey / Centre on Armed Groups

Since taking control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban have attempted to monitor and control small arms at the national level. They have not, however, developed any major new policies on these areas. Instead, the Taliban have continued to use the existing policies and procedures implemented under the previous Government of the Republic of Afghanistan, making modifications as needed. The Taliban’s capacity to control and manage stockpiles has increased over time, with weapons in the major bases largely kept secure. Personal connections, however, trump rules and procedures: influential commanders can often obtain weapons without following formal approval procedures. An additional challenge for the Taliban is that many commanders refuse to register weapons they possessed before August 2021. Commanders and fighters generally view such weapons as personal property, rather than that of the Taliban or the state. Power dynamics within the Taliban at the subnational level shape the management of weapons, which varies considerably from province to province. While the Taliban can act in a unified manner in certain circumstances, its central authorities tend to leave much of the day-to-day running of affairs to the local officials— both for political reasons and due to capacity issues.

 

Smuggling: Image and Reality
with Max Gallien; 2022, Welternährung / Welthungerhilfe

While smuggling has captured the imagination of painters, screenwriters and policymakers, its reality often looks more diverse. What are we missing, and what can we learn from it?

 

Klischee und Realität: Warum wir Schmuggel besser verstehen müssen (German)
with Max Gallien; 2022, Welternährung / Welthungerhilfe

Das Phänomen inspiriert Maler wie Filmemacher und beschäftigt die Politik. In der Realität kann Schmuggel konfliktträchtig sein – und überlebenswichtig.

 

Book – The Routledge Handbook of Smuggling 
with Max Gallien; 2021, Routledge

 

Schmuggel im 21. Jahrhundert (German)
with Max Gallien; 2021, Internationale Politik, Special 05/2021

Bis heute gelten Schmuggel und Schattenhandel als ­etwas, das im Verborgenen vor sich geht und sich in ­unzugänglichen Grenzgebieten abspielt. Doch solche Sichtweisen blenden vor allem die enge Verzahnung mit legalen Wirtschafts- und Finanzstrukturen aus.

 

Channeling contraband – how states shape international smuggling routes
with Max Gallien; 2021, Security Studies, 30(1), pp.79-106

While smuggling is commonly assumed to happen in remote and difficult to access borderlands, in reality, smuggling is most prevalent in areas that are tightly controlled by the state, including at formal border crossings. To understand this puzzle, the article explores the relationship between states and smugglers at international borders. Based on extensive empirical research in various borderlands in North Africa and Southeast Asia, it argues that different types of relationships with the state are preferred by different kinds of smugglers. The article outlines six ideal types of such relationships. It argues that these types of relationships are the dominant factor in how different smuggling networks choose routes along a border. The findings have implications for our understanding of smuggling and policies that aim at addressing smuggling, especially with regard to the effects of border fortifications and corruption prevention.

 

Book – Conflict and Transnational Crime: Borders, Bullets & Business in Southeast Asia
2020, Edward Elgar