NEWS
Who decides what counts as ‘illicit trade’?
Fighting ‘illicit trade’ sounds straightforward, but new SOC ACE research suggests the way we talk about it may be part of the problem. Drawing on 52 interviews, Adam Blanden, Dr Mayya Konovalova and Prof Sami Bensass show how tobacco giants, counterfeit crackdowns and risk profiling have shaped a discourse that targets smugglers and stigmatises traders while the real drivers of economic crime go unchecked.
SOC ACE September 2026 Newsletter
This month’s bulletin brings together new SOC ACE research on the changing relationship between states and organised crime, the political economies that sustain illicit activity, and the uneven development of conflict-affected borderlands.
We also explore scam compounds in the China–Myanmar borderlands, Russian war-related illicit trade across the Black Sea and the paramilitary–organised crime nexus in war-to-peace transitions. Alongside new publications, SOC ACE researchers are contributing to policy and academic discussions on state threats, sanctions evasion, corruption and hybrid warfare, with upcoming events in Krakow and Manchester.