In the spirit of welcoming the summer months, when Oxford students emerge from classrooms and college libraries to bask in long-awaited sunshine, this issue of The Oxonian Globalist casts light on activities that are normally enveloped in shadow.

The Oxonian Globalist Trinity Edition Cover

Each day, the forces of supply and demand funnel a bricolage of goods, services and migrants across international borders and around the globe. Too often, the long arm of the law is mercilessly overpowered by Adam Smith’s invisible hand. In these cases, regulations that govern production and exchange are powerless to hold back the torrent of market forces. As a consequence, beneath the surface of the visible economy, a thriving clandestine market facilitates trade between buyers and sellers.

In this issue, our authors examine a myriad of underground activities. In Colombia, calls from abroad for a moratorium on the production of coca have, ironically, caused the market for cocaine to flourish. Conversely, in Bulgaria, the illegal antiques trade could and should be quashed with stronger legislation. Allegations of organ harvesting in Kosovo, as well as botched executions in the United States, suggest that unregulated trade can perniciously violate personhood. Equally, a shortage of sepulchral storage in Hong Kong implies that underground markets continue to wield power even beyond the grave.

Since our Hilary edition, the world has undergone some rapid political transformations. Articles in this issue confront the impact of the Arab world’s spring awakening, the violence surrounding Nigeria’s turbulent elections, the art of imprisoned dissident Ai Weiwei and Britain’s controversial healthcare reforms. We hope you enjoy this issue. Please let us know what you think by dropping us a line at [email protected].

Thank you for your interest,

Sahiba Gill, Managing Editor (Print Edition)

Mark Longhurst, Editor-in-Chief