This presentation examines the relationship between the Iranian state and Kurdish smugglers, locally known as Qaçaqçi, highlighting the paradoxical collusion and coercion strategies that define state responses to these illicit trade practices. Relying on ethnographic research in Iranian Kurdistan, complemented by a critical analysis of anti-smuggling policies, this study explores the rhetorical and material contradictions reflected in the Islamic Republic's dual approach, which oscillates between border militarisation and punitive policing on one hand, and a complicity partially due to economic pragmatism amidst sanctions on the other. I argue that these contradictory formations are a product of smugglers' involvement in negotiations and contestations of power, challenging and re-affirming the state's sovereignty and authority in these border spaces, which the Islamic Republic seeks to mediate and manage. Despite their marginalised and criminalised status, Kurdish smugglers present a challenge to state-imposed spatial orders, influencing governmental policies and spatial interventions, such as the establishment of roadblocks. Nevertheless, rather than constant direct confrontation, Qaçaqçi and the state often reach tacit agreements and brokered settlements whereby illicit trade flows generate informal revenues for government forces on the ground. These activities also inadvertently become an indispensable tool for the Islamic Republic to bypass sanctions, enable access to global market commodities essential to middle-class lifestyles, and, most importantly, legitimise its vividly militarised presence in Kurdish borderlands. This analysis therefore contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of resistance and compliance as reflected through the influence of illicit trade networks in Iran's contested borderlands. Through a detailed examination of state-smuggler dynamics, my presentation proposes a framework for understanding the significance of illicit economies in the region's politics.

The intensified border control measures and the building of fences and walls have significantly curtailed cross-border exchanges, profoundly impacting the once-vibrant economic and social dynamism of borderlands. This paper examines the intricate processes through which border closures are negotiated between states and their citizens in the Moroccan-Algerian borderlands. Drawing on findings from ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted with regional policymakers, cooperative owners, and borderland communities, it delves into the ramification of border closures, asking what happens when the border closes? While state authorities have launched development initiatives and alternatives to deal with the pitfalls of closure, testimonies from the borderlands, however, evoke a different relationship to it marked by immobility, waiting and the passing of time. In the Eastern region, cafés are particularly burgeoning spaces for men to come together, to speak amongst one another, and in other words to pass time. This paper departs from the border and seeks to unpack the apparent stagnation in border towns and cities, how it manifests in spaces and how it is experienced. It deploys the concept of ‘waithood’ to explore the implications of closure (Hage 2009). The paper argues that waiting is not merely about the passage of time or boredom, but it is rather a manifestation of material and discursive power dynamics that reify borderlands as marginalised peripheries, thus shaping conditions of inclusion and exclusion in the post-closure environment. By exploring these moments of apparent stagnation, this paper contextualises bordering processes in both their spatial and temporal dimensions. The latter in particular seeks to undo the linear understanding of change, and to show how closure is mediated not only by present strategies and alternatives but also by projected and imagined futures of development.

Research on the shared border regions between Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia remains largely unexplored, primarily due to the sensitive nature and critical security implications of this topic. This paper seeks to fill this gap by examining everyday narratives and practices in these overlooked borderland communities, specifically in the borderlands of Tunisia and Morocco. Drawing from extensive fieldwork, including in-depth interviews and informal conversations with over 80 respondents across five different border regions - – the Oujda region in Morocco, and the Gafsa, Kasserine, Kef, and Jendouba regions in Tunisia – my research aims to shed light on how communities residing in borderlands negotiate their everyday life within the distinctive conditions of their living environment. Borderlands are often viewed as marginalized spaces, but they are also reservoirs of powerful resources for their inhabitants. In these liminal zones, communities face unique challenges and opportunities that influence how they speak and act in relation to borders and bordering processes in their everyday life. I intend to explore how the everyday life of borderland residents are shaped by key elements related to borderlands and bordering processes. These include following factors: cross-border social connections and movements, border policing and the growing securitization of borders, national policies specific to border regions, as well as border governance processes. The findings indicate differences between border regions in terms of political and economic resources, influencing the range of actions available to address security and livelihood concerns and emphasizing the importance of considering the local context. Borderland communities’ narratives and experiences challenge traditional state -centric notions of borders and governance, suggesting a broader, more inclusive perspective that incorporates community agency.

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 over 14 months of fieldwork in the borderlands of Tunisia and Morocco, and over 200 interviews with smugglers, street-level bureaucrats and borderland communities, this presentation sketches the key ingredients of an alternativel political economy of illegal trade in the Maghreb. It examines the rules and agreements that have frequently governed 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. What emerges is a re-negotiation of the terms on which borderland communities are integrated into national political settlements. The presentation ends on drawing out the implications of these re-negotiations not just for borderland communities in North Africa, but for the study of smuggling and state-building more widely.