Neoliberal moral economy is a rich, fieldwork-based analysis of the changing features of the ‘moral economy’ in Uganda during its ‘neoliberal era’ (post-1986). Through a meticulous analysis of the prevalence and changing characteristics of fraud and malpractice, Jörg Wiegratz seeks to explain how neoliberalism has shaped a moral-economic transformation in the country. The author argues that the neoliberal moral economy of Uganda has novel and salient characteristics (individualism, short-termism, opportunism, open wealth-maximising, ruthlessness) and outcomes (exploitation of the weak, rising inequality, injustice, and the proliferation and institutionalisation of fraud) – even though it builds upon some of its ‘pre-liberal’ features. More broadly, Wiegratz argues that a moral economy is the outcome of a specific political economy; that it is built on the ‘de-mobilizing, undermining, and weakening of specific competitor morals and moral systems’ (337); and that fraud, always a feature of capitalism, has become even more embedded in its neoliberal variety.
The book is organised in 11 chapters. In the introduction and Chapter 1, the author makes the case for why scholars should be studying morality and the moral economy to better understand capitalism, not only in Uganda or Africa but also elsewhere. The main claim is that fraud has been rising in the 2000s in the country and that this trend can be explained by the socio-cultural and moral transformations brought by neoliberalism in the post-1986 period. These changes are seen as enhancing fraud, rather than combatting it. These chapters also lay out the analytical and methodological frameworks of the book, which is based on the analysis of four key dimensions of a moral economy: norms, values, orientations and practices (NVOPs):
What set of economic practices – as well as values and norms – is dominant and why? What do people consider to be acceptable, proper or necessary ways of earning a living, and treating others in the process? What are prevailing action justifications?' (2)
Chapter 2 provides a general introduction to Uganda for the non-specialist reader, and a very short discussion of Bugisu Region, Eastern Uganda, which is the locus of some of the case study work. Chapter 3 accounts for some general trends and transformations in the political and moral economy of Uganda and of Bugisu through the analysis of people's perceptions of neoliberal reforms and their outcomes. In Chapters 4 and 5, the book zooms into more specific cases of fraud in agricultural trade, and offers some detailed analysis of the role of powerful actors (foreign and domestic) in shaping the moral economy. Chapters 6 and 7 provide a rich picture of traders' perceptions of the moral-economic features of doing business in contemporary Uganda, and the adjustments in business practice they made as a consequence. The last two empirical chapters examine how people in Uganda and in Bugisu see the role of state actors vis-à-vis injustice, fraud and lack of accountability (Chapter 8), and provide examples of resistance (in relation to the attempted revamping of the Bugisu Cooperative Union) and ‘moral turnaround’ among some traders. The conclusion paints a bleak picture of the current and future moral economies of Uganda and other neoliberal regimes, with individualism, opportunism, fraud and lack of trust likely to continue playing central roles in them.
Neoliberal moral economy is an important read for scholars interested in the interplay of culture, morality and ethics in the functioning of African political economies. It is based on a huge amount of interview material collected in the late 2000s, with follow-up visits in the mid 2010s. The author makes good use of quotes from his interviewees and weaves a layered, complex and detailed picture of changes in neoliberal-inspired norms, values, orientations and practices. The book shows how these changes took place gradually since the late 1980s and accelerated markedly in the 2000s. It also provides some examples of counter-action, offers perspectives from different groups of actors, and highlights contradictions, multiple moral positions and adaptations over time. Finally, it describes aspirations and a general longing for what is perhaps romantically portrayed as a more gentle, cooperative past.
The book seeks to contribute to critical studies of capitalism and international/African political economy by highlighting the need to pay more attention not only to cultural and ‘everyday’ international political economy (IPE) but also the moral norms that underpin political-economic processes. It denounces a relative lack of interest on this aspect, but strangely does not engage with French pragmatic sociology, a literature focusing on different forms of justification for action that has become influential in some branches of IPE. Neoliberal moral economy is built around a clear argument, but becomes chaotic within some of the individual chapters, making it difficult to follow a red thread. A stronger discussion on methodology could have also helped to strengthen the validity and representativeness of the material presented. The readers do not get to know the distribution of interviews by area or actor category, or in what language they were carried out and whether the author needed translation (and what that entailed if that was the case). It is not clear what approach was taken in the analysis of such a massive amount of interview material. As a result, thick description and drawing from a large variety of examples (some in passing, others in much more detail) are often followed by sweeping statements and conclusions. The book contains very little quantitative data, even of a descriptive nature, which makes it hard to accept some observations at face value (on trends in market prices for coffee at the international and local levels, for example).
Despite these limitations, Neoliberal moral economy provides an important contribution to the field of international/African political economy, highlighting the complex moral and politico-economic processes that oil the cogs of contemporary capitalism.