The Constitutive Role of Illicit Activities in Global Production Networks

In this commentary commemorating the Journal of Economic Geography’s 25th anniversary, we highlight the under-researched role of illicit activities in global production processes and present three distinct avenues for future economic-geographical research. The commentary begins with a call for research on global production networks (GPN) to embrace a broad understanding of illicit activities that entangle with firms, networks and places in varied and uneven ways. The importance of this approach is illustrated through pinpointing the constitutive role of the illicit in a ‘trinity of core global processes’, namely the ‘green transition’, the ‘gold rush’ and the ‘artificial intelligence chip battle’. These processes are entwined with substantial illicit activities and are not least significant in the current conjuncture of fractious geopolitical relations between so-called global superpowers. The commentary concludes by delineating how illicit activities can be better incorporated into GPN research through focusing on firms, networks and the differentiated involvement of different places in the production process.