Smugglers and States: Negotiating the Maghreb at its Margins
Key information
- Date
- Time
-
5:00 pm to 7:00 pm
- Venue
- Main Building, SOAS
- Room
- Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT)
About this event
Smuggling is typically thought of as furtive and hidden, taking place under the radar and beyond the reach of the state. But in many cases, governments tacitly permit illicit cross-border commerce, or even devise informal arrangements to regulate it.
Drawing on extensive fieldwork in the borderlands of Tunisia and Morocco, Max Gallien’s book “Smugglers and States: Negotiating the Maghreb at its Margins” explains why states have long tolerated illegal trade across their borders and develops new ways to understand the political economy of smuggling. The book examines the rules and agreements that govern smuggling in North Africa, arguing that while states have long relied on it to secure political acquiescence and maintain order, the securitization of borders, wars, political change, and the pandemic have put these arrangements under pressure.
The panel features Max Gallien introducing some of the key themes of the book, followed by a conversation with Lina Khatib and Jonathan Goodhand on the wider role of smuggling in state building, politics and conflict, within the Maghreb and beyond.
About the speakers
Max Gallien is a research fellow at the Institute of Development Studies and the International Centre for Tax and Development. He is a co-editor of the ‘Routledge Handbook of Smuggling’ (2022) and the author of ‘Smugglers and States: Negotiating the Maghreb at its Margins’ (2024).
Lina Khatib is Director of the SOAS Middle East Institute, MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East Studies and Professor of Practice in the Department of Politics and International Studies. She served as director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, where she is now an Associate Fellow, and prior to this she was director of the Carnegie Middle East Center at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a Senior Associate at the Arab Reform
She is the author of three books including Image Politics in the Middle East: The Role of the Visual in Political Struggle (2013).
Jonathan Goodhand is a Professor in Conflict and Development Studies in the Department of Development Studies, SOAS, University of London, an Honorary Professorial Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Melbourne and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Illicit Economies, Violence and Development (CIVAD).
His research focuses on armed conflict illicit economies, borderlands and brokerage and post war transitions. His books include: ‘Aiding Peace: the role of NGOs in Armed Conflict’, ‘War Economies in a Regional Context: Challenges for Transformation’.
Registration
This event is free to attend, but registration is required. Please note that seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
