Personal background - research interests

1. The cultural political economy of embedding neoliberalism in Uganda An analysis of changes in the relationships and trade practices (moral economy) between farmers and traders in the era of post-1986 economic liberalisation Jörg Wiegratz (PhD researcher)University of Sheffield, Department of PoliticsPreliminary findings of field research presentation given in Kampala/Sheffield (April/May 2009) JW, 10/5/09

2. Personal background - research interests • Academic interests include: • Political economy & economic sociology of ‘markets’ • Neoliberalism, (liberal-)capitalist society, moral economy • Value chains, human resource development • Prior to PhD: for three years consultant & researcher on economic development topics in Uganda • Studies on human resource development (skills, training) and value chain governance • See University of Sheffield website for downloads: • www.shef.ac.uk/politics/research/phd/jwiegratz.html JW, 10/5/09

3. What do we know about the economy & markets, economic actors, their relationships & exchange? JW, 10/5/09 How do ‘real markets’ operate? What makes markets work? What characterizes inter-actor relationships in markets? What motivates and shapes economic action? Are markets arenas of moral norms? Are economic actors moral beings?

4. JW, 10/5/09 Background to PhD study

5. Prior note: the problem with mainstream economics JW, 10/5/09 • Most mainstream economists: (1) don’t study concrete/real markets & market actors (empirical constitution/functioning of markets), and (2) don’t ‘go to the field’ (little qualitative research, interviews with and observations of market actors/markets) • But ‘perfect’ (neoclassical) models of economy/exchange (especially U.S. based/inspired economics) • Abstractions, postulates, study of logics, mathematical (not empirical) proofs, equilibrium theory • Hence, relatively poor empirical understanding of markets/ actors, including reality of real market incidences, market interactions, or ‘business culture’ ( & what shapes the latter)

6. Business culture in Uganda? Relationships and behaviour (not just price & quality of product) matter in trade • Studies on value chain governance (Wiegratz et al. 2007a, 2007b): • Ugandan exporters & European importers (study 1) • Ugandan farmers & buyers (traders/processors) (study 2) • Among main findings of study 1: • Actors’ behaviour in inter-actor/firm relations varies & matters • It matters what kind of buyer one has (and vice versa) • From perspective of Ugandan exporters, importance of soft competitiveness factors (SCFs: trust, communication, learning, loyalty, patience…), besides hard CFs (price, logistics, quality) • Malpractices on both sides (Ugandan & European actors); policy makers hardly address these ‘risk issues’ • Nature and forms of inter-actor relationships (including ‘business culture’) in export trade matter for local economic development in Uganda JW, 10/5/09

7. Farmer-buyers relationships, study 2 JW, 10/5/09 • Problems in farmers-traders-relations in agro sectors (on-off, opportunism, low mutual trust, mistrust, malpractices) • Yet also some more positive relationship examples; some actors try to establish more long-term, stable and cooperative forms of economic relationships with business partners • But difficult undertaking in Ugandan context, low trust atmosphere and related expectations re action motivations • Farmers benefit from ‘developmental buyers’ (yet minority case): • Training, price, demand stability, increased business volume, technology & knowledge transfer, better agro-practices, various kinds of assistance, more trust-based (and at times partnership-like) relationships, motivation, learning by repetition, lower level of malpractices (if any) in particular cases, joint business projects

8. Is there a relationship crisis in parts of the agricultural economy in Uganda? JW, 10/5/09 • The few existing studies (BSMD studies, van Bussel, Asiimwe, Wiegratz et al.) point to incidences of: • Short term oriented action, on-off/unstable market relations, opportunism, low mutual trust, weak inter-personal relationships and cooperation patterns • ‘Confused’ norm and behavioural expectations • Actors facing high behavioural uncertainties (risk of defecting business partner) • Dishonesty, deception, malpractices (farmers, traders/ middlemen, processors involved) • Injustices & inequalities, exploitation of weaker economic actors (farmers, workers, etc.) • The above: problem for the economy and its actors!?

9. Relationship crisis in the economy? Society-wide problems (social, cultural, economic, political)? JW, 10/5/09 • Pointing to a larger crisis in society? Related to wider economic, social, cultural, political trends? • Colonial/post-colonial period of (partly unresolved) conflicts and transformations • History of ‘problematic’ business practices • Post-1986 reforms: liberalisation & privatisation of economy and commercialisation of society • Impact of: economic pressures & poverty, trends of global capitalist economy & foreign influence • Corruption in political & other sub-systems

10. Motivation of the PhD study JW, 10/5/09 • Empirical problem: often poor relations between farmers and traders, yet, also few examples of better relations (trust, cooperation, communication, fairness) • How can we understand and explain this empirical situation? What’s ‘the problem’ with some of the inter-actor relations and practices in the Ugandan economy? • What is the (cultural) political economy dimension? • Characteristics, trends, explanations, implications? • Scarce literature on social, cultural, cognitive, political embeddedness of markets, actors, practices in post-1986 Uganda (since ruling regime, NRM, took over power after a period of civil war)

11. Study focus: has liberalisation reshaped moral economy, e.g. shifted moral norms? If yes, how? JW, 10/5/09 Econ liberalisation reforms (& other liberal reforms; ‘cultural programmes’ to reshape people/society) Culture (e.g. social values, moral norms of behaving, acceptable/inacceptable practices in the economy) Farmers-traders relationships (FTRs) and practices PoliticsCultural Political Economy CultureEconomy

12. Moral economy analysis JW, 10/5/09 • The study of the moral order of an economy (e.g. rights, entitlements, duties, responsibilities, social relations etc.) • & attempts to change that order (& tensions, ‘protests’) • Economy Set of (changing) moral norms • Dynamics of moral norms & moral action in an economy: e.g. shifts in what is regarded acceptable/inacceptable, proper/improper behaviour • Four components of moral action: moral sensitivity, moral judgement, moral motivation, moral character

13. The study of business culture (BC) JW, 10/5/09 • Norms, rules, values, beliefs, conventions, attitudes, cognitive frames, action dispositions & practices • E.g. trade practices, ... which are shaped by norms etc. • Study focus: Norms, values, practices (NVPs) in rural trade • Inter-actor relationships & actors’ behaviour therein • Embedded in political, cultural, social, cognitive context • Shaped by prevailing social institutions (e.g. NVs) in a society, which, in turn, mirror the prevailing political orientation (e.g. distribution of power) in that society

14. Embedding neoliberal business culture in Uganda? • Neoliberalism: acts of social engineering to create a ‘market society’ (deepened capitalist social relations) • Imposing (i) a market-based, market-conforming thinking, rationalizing, feeling and behaving of economic actors, (ii) (unrestrained) self-interest as sole market coordination device • Cultural conditioning of individuals (habits of thought & habits of action) according to imperatives of accumulation through specific socialization • Based on neoclassical Homo economicus (HE) assumptions; assumes HE characteristics are immanent in all human beings across societies, and only need to be freed by neoliberal reforms • In practice: ‘crowding out’ & overwriting (putting under pressure) of prevailing other norms/motives for and practices (e.g. customs) of action and inter-personal relations in economy & society JW, 10/5/09

15. The neoclassical actor model: Homo economicus (HE) JW, 10/5/09 • Economists’ construction of ‘the economy’ as a separate sphere of society: economy has its own laws, operational logics, human agency conception, and is independent from social institutions including moral considerations • All actors behave more or less the same (in the ‘model world’, HE); their actions are characterized by: • Instrumental rationality, material self-interest, self-regard, instinctive gain making, acquisitiveness, atomism, autonomous utility maximization (ever optimization, ever more profits), opportunism (including, if it serves self-interest, ruthlessly violating interest of exchange partner in process of seeking own advantage), ‘self-interest seeking with guile’ (Williamson), indifference towards trading partner (‘separative self’: neither empathic nor emotionally connected with ‘the other’ in trade exchange moment)

16. All just self interest?! Adam Smith I • Standard model: anonymous(‘freed’...) actors facing ‘demand and supply’, on-off transactions, self-interest maximisation • Neoclassical (neoliberal) notions of market actors’ behaviour and coordination of market exchange draw upon Smith’s argument of materialself-interest(and the related ‘invisible hand’) as sole market coordination device • Pursuit of individual gains (at whatever costs to others, by any means) elevated to be the fundamental organizing and moral principle of economic life in liberal-capitalist economies JW, 10/5/09

17. Neoliberal business culture, cont. JW, 10/5/09 • Assumes self-interest based business culture best, (and sufficient) for markets/economic development & best to ensure maximum social (society) and individual welfare • (Unrestrained) self-interest at the core of neoliberal BC • Individualism, self interest, efficiency, individual utility maximization, getting rich etc. as norms for all action, behaviour and relationships in the economy • Moral code of neoliberal BC: maximising your own welfare (without regard to consequences for others) automatically maximises society’s welfare (e.g. Smith’s ‘hidden hand’); • Neoliberal morality in general: individual freedom (negative morality: free from state interference, control & oppression; moral duty not to interfere with the rights of others), individual choice, property rights and protection thereof

18. Freeing the market from (other) moral norms JW, 10/5/09 Left out: Morality based motivations & concerns such as propriety, fellow feeling, empathy, other-regard, acting justly/fairly/ honestly, avoidance of (unnecessary) harm to ‘the other’, reciprocity, altruism, mutual recognition & respect For economists, moral norms & concerns (that regulate behaviour, restrain the pursuit of self interest/profit making, etc.) are restrictions/obstacles to proper market dynamics, expansion and efficiency (... rather than necessary preconditions for a ‘stable market economy’ and a ‘sustainable/good society’) Note: Pursuing (unrestrained) self-interest also fundamental principle of behaviour & relationships in non-economic realms of neoliberal(ising) society; such societies are increasingly organised around market principles and market-type relationships

19. Moral dimension of markets?! JW, 10/5/09 ‘Rediscovery’ of Smith’s arguments (Smith II) about the moral preconditions of stable markets/economies by some contemporary scholars Moral dimension of alleconomic action: Economic actors are socially situated moral agents. Alleconomies are moral economies. Note on moral codes: What is regarded as responsible/ irresponsible, good/bad, acceptable/unacceptable, proper/improper, allowed/prohibited, decent/indecent, praiseworthy/ blameworthy behaviour in a given society/location in light of moral principles of fairness, justice, propriety, care/solidarity; standards of interaction concerning others’ welfare, norms: socially constituted reasons for actions

20. JW, 10/5/09 Moving away from (mainstream) economics we find that ... ... other branches of social sciences conceptualise markets, market actors and relationships differently...

21. Economies, markets, economic actors and relationships are embedded (constituted) JW, 10/5/09 Cognitively Socially (power, class, gender, age) Culturally (e.g., normatively/morally) Politically (history, power, interests, tensions/contestations, struggle, global/local discourse, transformational project of ruling elite, foreign/domestic actors) Hence, study of embeddedness (or, constitution & context) of markets/economic actors required Markets: arenas of social relations & interaction between human beings (moral norms shape relations & interactions)

22. Neoliberal BC in Uganda: the policy side JW, 10/5/09 • History of BC: Colonial economy, cooperatives, post-colonial economy, move to the left, expulsion of the Indians, magendo (smuggling), profiteering, political turmoil, corruption, enriching schemes of parts of elite, cooperatives crisis...; in short: some degree of malpractices & ‘relationship problems’ also pre-1986 • State marketing boards in export sectors, less state in food trade • Since 1990s: GOU & donors applied liberal policy mix • State marketing structures dismantled, privatization, deregulation of markets, hands-off approach, largely unrestrained profit making, freeing of markets, ‘laws’ of demand & supply, private sector led growth, enabling environment • Believe in progressive forces of private sector, healthy effects of competition, AND neoclassical market models • Cultural & behavioural reform dimension hardly discussed

23. SO?! Liberalisation & Farmers-traders-relationships (FTRs) & moral economy Findings from interviews in Kampala (mainly expert interviews) & in the Eastern region of Bugisu (farmers, traders, experts) JW, 10/5/09

24. Background: interviews JW, 10/5/09 Around 50 elite interviews (officials from state & donor agencies, NGOs & associations, journalists, academicians, religious leaders, elders, observers...) Interviews with together around 150 small holder farmers and traders (guided and random selection) From across the agricultural sectors (maize, coffee, tomatoes, grains, cotton, etc.) Detailed sector specifics not so relevant, important to shed light on moral economy trends in general Exploratory study (new area, maybe the first study on moral economy in post-1986 Uganda)

25. Findings based on qualitative research JW, 10/5/09 Interviewees’ subjective views/perceptions, their experiences, interpretations & sense making of trends in liberalised economy Moral truths Some economists might dismiss this collection of peoples’ views as: ‘rumours from the village’ (prominent World Bank advisor about results of qualitative poverty research in Uganda, as recalled by interviewee)

26. Interviews centred around questions like: JW, 10/5/09 What is your view on relationships and practices between farmers and traders in liberalisation era? How do the characteristics compare with the pre-liberalisation era? Discussion about related changes in moral order of & moral action in economy? Critical incidences Role of different actors Detailed processes & reasons & implications of trends Etc.

27. Interviews with state officials, Examples JW, 10/5/09 Say/claim: cooperatives were bad, competition is good Post-liberalisation: more traders, thus, farmers have a choice where/to whom to sell; better prices for farmers Cash payment (instead of promissory notes from coop.) Emphasize ‘willing buyer-willing seller’ principle Farmers get higher share of export price, claim is backed-up by one (!) coffee sector statistic from mid 1990s Farmers’ prices might be low at times, but improved price information flow (via radio, mobile phone, newspaper) will solve (almost) everything re prices for farmers

28. Examples: state officials’ views, cont. JW, 10/5/09 • Usually estimate that 2-3 out of 10 traders are engaged in malpractices (to state officials: malpractices is a small problem) • Some interviewees critical of neoliberal realities (drop in produce quality and morals, business practices, low farmers’ benefits, middlemen, donors’ influence & persistence on neoliberal reforms) • Examples of statements from interviewees: • ‘We have liberalised... we cannot intervene in business relations’. • Aren’t malpractices (e.g., related to price negotiation) harming small holder farmers? ‘This is business’. • ‘[Business is very informal in Uganda.] These are gentlemen’s agreement. What do you want government to do? Government can only advice people to improve their business practices’. • ‘[If the very poor, remote, isolated, uninformed farmers] cannot cope with new market environment, they should die and go to heaven... They should just continue with their livelihood strategies’.

29. Examples: officials from donors/foreign NGOs JW, 10/5/09 • Attitude: Don’t problematise behaviour of traders • Some interviewees talk about need for better FTRs, and say farmers have to improve on this & that, BUT show little concern to improve traders’ behaviour (e.g. increase traders’ accountability for practices, regulate traders’ beh.) • ‘Don’t touch the traders’-attitude (read: let them continue making profits in unrestrained way) • World Bank official: in talks with government, it is taboo to talk about dark/dirty side of (behavioural problems in) private sector - that would undermine efforts to convince gov. to give more space to private sector; yet official admits: open markets are ‘messy’ (competition practices) & behaviour of many econ actors in Uganda problematic

30. Donors & foreign NGOs, cont. JW, 10/5/09 Belief/assumption: if markets grow, farmers will automatically (and sufficiently) benefit; demand↑/price↑, e.g. S. Sudan boom Trust problems because of e.g.: (i) attitudes (NGO official), (ii) geography (EU official: good natural conditions in Uganda - hence, too easy to make a living, and no need for cooperation among people to survive, different from e.g. Ethiopia) Talk about equitable markets, increasing farmers’ benefits, win-win market constellations, everybody should benefit ... But respondents are ‘weak’ when asked how they think improved FTRs, equitable markets etc. can be achieved on broad base in the country, given political-economic realities/interests of beneficiaries/promoters of status quo Poor understanding of deeper reasons for FTRs problems

31. Almost no one... JW, 10/5/09 Has substantial data, case studies, analytical insights into realities of FTRs and trade practices Neither state, donors, NGOs (& academic community) Interviewees from these groups typically rely on few anecdotes/casual observations when they talk about FTRs Claims about functioning of real markets & FTRs, and benefits of liberal (rural) markets to smallholder farmers (& rural communities) hardly backed by empirical insights Researcher wonders: Poverty reduction efforts in absence of empirical understanding of FTR realities? Isn’t it like expressing interest in child development but not studying and addressing child-parents-relationship? Outside the cooperatives system: farmer gets money from trader/middlemen. This relationship and its workings/practices need to be understood/addressed.

32. Examples from talks with traders/middlemen JW, 10/5/09 A lot of interview time spent on details of malpractices... Malpractices regarding price information (e.g. cartel-like), weighing scale, quality measurement, payment tricks, theft Malpractices at times rise/mutate with increase in product demand (e.g. coffee boom, Southern Sudan boom) Cover up methods by actors (threats, coercion, bribes, etc.) Chain of cheating: larger buyers → smaller buyers → middlemen/agents → farmers, and the other way around; liberalisation period malpractices mainly started by buyers/traders/MM (not farmers) Exporters don’t really control practices of their agents (e.g. to limit abuse of MM-power), claim not possible due to competition for produce Malpractice-related losses: threat to existence of actors & firms (coffee sector severely hit by malpractices in some seasons, bankruptcy cases) Uncertainty for all & repeated bitterness for ones on losing end Malpractices in rural trade hardly regulated effectively by relevant authorities (district, Uganda National Bureau of Standards, etc.)

33. Rise of brokers in rural & (semi)urban markets JW, 10/5/09 • Outcome of e.g. unemployment/lack of economic alternatives • Operate between farmers & traders/processors, of young age • Often ‘charge’ high broker ‘fees’, ‘sharp’, pay prices according to ‘ignorance, stupidity, desperation’ of farmers (different from economists’ standard model of demand & supply) • Have social power, also use coercion & harassment to gain & defend position in surplus extraction chain (to make their cut) • Case where farmers don’t know how to confront aggressive brokers in rural market who don’t allow farmers to sell directly to buyers • ‘Career shifts’: two cases of brokers who reduced/abandoned malpractices, e.g. stopped being brokers (and became ordinary traders/businessmen) because they perceived it too risky/criminal and immoral, moral impact of concerned wives & community members, reformed actors live happier and more peaceful life and became community role models

34. Traders & MM, cont. Rural trading centre of millers: after period of malpractices (consequent decline in customer base), changed towards more honesty/fairness-based BC (to regain: reputation, customers, moral well-being) Case of a MM (also a farmer) who always takes only 50Ush fee (fair) Some MM: say that they cheat due to pressing poverty problems MM are (i) quite regularly ill-treated (e.g. on quality assessment, prices) by larger buyers (e.g. coffee exporters) to whom they sell, (ii) at times robbed of their cash by thieves on way home from trading centre, etc. Worried about trends in business practices & morality, their economic future, & politics in country; some consider to go back to village & ‘retire’ (give up) because of economic difficulties in MM/traders’ life Female traders find prevailing business culture worrying (various coping mechanisms, some successful); cases of stress-related health problems, one middle-aged female trader: plans to retreat to village (‘and just sit at home’) due to rough practices of younger brokers who have reduced her business (Mbale industrial area: maize trade)

35. Examples from farmers’ interviews JW, 10/5/09 • Liberalisation in early 1990s not well explained by state; farmers feel hardly informed (often, just a radio announcement by state officials: ‘cooperatives have cheated you... You can now sell freely... Sell to the highest bidder’); no further advice • Many farmers discouraged, frustrated, bitter, insecure re FTRs • Surrounded by tough moral economy (in part deceiving traders, input suppliers, shop sellers, & petty criminals, in part corrupt local councils & courts, police, politicians, bureaucrats) • Face high risk/uncertainty regarding traders’ behaviour • Almost no one to help small holder farmers get justice when they have been victim of malpractices of traders/MM and other agents • Feeling of helplessness & desperation, high level of mob justice • Complain about absent/disengaged state (neoliberal policies and realities put them in difficult situation, made/kept them poor)

36. Shocked about neoliberal realities in rural markets Shocked/concerned about neoliberal realities: malpractices, unfairness, injustices, product quality drop, perceived domestic/global immorality trends, corruption, money as new god, dominance of middlemen system, (economic) un-freedom; (petty) theft in community (e.g. by unemployed youth), Complain about (i) traders/MM’ practices & prices, (ii) other events/ agents/dynamics that keep them poor, or, have made them poorer: Ush depreciation, cattle theft, ‘killing’ of cooperatives, misleading advise from state (e.g. re agricultural issues), taxes, microfinance institutions, NGOs, ‘fake’ era, climate change), Machiavelli-type politics (poverty & rule) 7-10/10 traders/MM engaged in malpractice (traders/MM agree) Many farmers have positive memories of past (cooperatives) times (despite problems at the time) and miss cooperatives’ structures

37. Struggle to revive Bugisu Cooperative Union, reveal politics of rural trade JW, 10/5/09 • Some farmers also engage in malpractices; among others, to counter traders’ malpractices, to survive, to copy elite behaviour (corruption) and to ‘adjust’ to (perceived) trends of malpractices/new moral codes in country • Farmers together with elders struggled for years for revival of Bugisu Cooperative Union after years of corrupt BCU leadership • To lower dependence on MM/(foreign) traders/exporters, to reshape rural economy & struggle for: ownership & dignity, more stability, better prices & life; lots of resistance from corrupt leaders and their (political) allies • Eventually, farmer succeed in throwing out old management/board, new leadership of hope (chairman: opposition MP, contested by NRM), after years of not buying, BCU is buying coffee again and farmers supply to it • Overall, farmers worry about future: incomes, morals, chances for the children/youth, country, politics

38. Interviewees: general moral trends, examples • Move towards neoliberal value set; increasingly shapes and dominates society & economy, backed by parts of powerful elite • Powerful foreign and domestic agents of new morality... pushing down voices of old moral order (threats, neglect, ‘bribes’, etc.) • Since 1990s: era of money making no matter HOW (money m. increasingly unconstrained by 'old' and supported by 'new' moral norm set)! • To become rich (e.g. elite), to survive (masses), many people/groups are morally compromised because of the way in which they made/make money • Individualism, new rich as role models (prestige, sit in front in churches), failure of power elite (leaders), rise of ‘I don't care’ attitude, ‘to whom it may concern’, ‘dog-eats-dog-society’; people realize 'old' norms obsolete/devalued in new economic life & copy from elite (‘almost everybody does it now‘, ‘you can’t survive as an honest person in this economy’), ‘foreign investor’-phenomena, rise of middlemen-system to dominance • Injustices/unfairness high, economic exclusion of sections of society (e.g. youth), or regions (e.g. Eastern Uganda) • Short term gains/goals on expense of long term issues, quantity not quality, shortcuts practices, ‘making a cut’, little/no accountability for business practices • Powerful Western economies (U.S., Europe) role model & drivers of these trends in contemporary capitalism: see global financial crisis (see ‘cheating culture’ in the US and elsewhere in the neoliberal West/world, Callahan)

39. Perceived moral trends, cont. Moral decline since 1990s: rise in corruption, fraud, deception, malpractices, abuse of power, fake/unreal/false things & behaviour (kiwaani), failure of power elite, showing moral integrity not rewarded/honoured anymore by community/public Gradual erosion of mechanisms of external (community related) and internal (guilt/shame) sanctions to ‘check’ moral transgressions Westernisation of Ugandan society/culture (via e.g. video halls, media, internet, foreign firms, education, technology, Diaspora) Socio-economic tensions erode morals & community/family cohesion Commercialisation and deregulation of many realms of society (health, education, community life) led to increase in & new forms of ‘malpractices’ with high cost to society/people; recently in the news: corruption, drug theft by hospital staff, school & market fires, collapsing buildings, child sacrifice, land wrangles, counterfeits, etc. Many societal groups (especially power elite) morally compromised due to their action in recent past. Moral reintegration in this context?

40. Moral trends, cont. JW, 10/5/09 • Interviewees tend to wonder: Who is left with moral authority to reshape moral norms and restore moral order? They mostly say: No one/Hardly anyone. Some believe, only God can rescue Uganda from these trends (especially, erosion of morals & failure of power elite) • Interviewer: Do you have particular phrases/metaphors for such characteristics & trends of recent developments in Uganda? Answer: KIWAANI (popular song title, refers to era of deceit, pretence & tricking, the fake/unreal/false, hoax; deceptive behaviour to make money (& survive) • Researcher looks for analytical terms to capture some of the trends & the difference between ‘success talk’ of certain officials (in Kampala, Washington, London, Brussels) and real/perceived upcountry realities: Pseudo development? Workshop development? Putemkin development? Neoliberal anarchy/disorder/order? Unintended consequences, of e.g. neoliberal virtualism? Laissez faire pathologies? Coerced into the ‘free market’? Neoliberal prison yard?

41. Concluding remarks JW, 10/5/09 • Data suggest: neoliberal reforms have reshaped moral economy (moral order & norms) of (i) rural trade and (ii) economy/society at large; part of (moral) restructuring: towards liberal-capitalist society & neoliberal economy, • Who benefits? Certain actors in economy/society, e.g. (foreign) exporters, traders, manufacturers and their allies in the political and bureaucratic system, and, of course, ‘donors’ • Moral economy trends a (long-term) threat to ‘development’!? • Moral issues (how we organize and live in society & economy) have political significance; (ordinary) people think & interpret life and economy in moral terms: (in)justice, (im)propriety, good life, ... • Long-term effects of shifts in moral order & moral norms!? • How does one limit erosion of moral norms & support moral ‘healing’? • Post-liberalism call (in context of global financial crisis/recession) premature: in Uganda, neoliberal moral economy still predominant & neoliberal proponents powerful; cultural (& cognitive) effects/turbulences of shifts towards neoliberal norms of thinking and behaving just starting to become visible & effective • Neoliberal policies & practices seem to reshape (in part of population, at least) actors’ moral behaviour (in economic realm) via shifts in their moral sensitivity, moral judgment, moral motivation and moral character; hard to ‘reverse’!?

42. Concluding remarks, cont. Markets not free (in economics’ sense) but (socially/polit./cult.) contested; not source of freedom, but (also) arenas of domination, power, coercion, unfreedom Ordinary/poor economic actors have significant problems: to express their concerns with moral economy trends to authorities, and trigger any action; or, to find collective strength and structures (e.g. cooperatives) to address & counter trends. Due to power imbalance, poverty, rural politics, etc. Study of economic history (e.g., incidences of injustice, series of hopes & disappointments, politics of reforms) from perspective of ordinary people important: To document their views, bring experience of majority of people to forefront, balance/counter official discourse, and thus, help future generations to have chance to better understand history of the country. Elite’s political-economic projects (e.g. reforms) have social, cultural, emotional, cognitive/psychological, economic & political costs to population/society Behaviour of power elite in different section of society, especially politics, decisive: for ongoing erosion & future of morality (interviewees say) Global politics of neoliberal business culture (who accumulates & how); certain Western agents push for liberal reforms in Uganda & often ignore consequent turbulences in local communities (economy, families)

43. Future research? ‘Bring reality in’ - study what real actors do in real markets (and why) • Social, cultural, political effects of neoliberal (economic) development • Political economy of reforms, politics of business culture (practices of accumulation/surplus extraction & effects for majority population) • Historical evolution of BC? Turning points? Interpretation of people? • Shifts in: ‘rules of the game’, moral order & codes • Dynamics, reasons, consequences of normative, motivational, cognitive, and (resulting) behavioural changes • Role of different factors (issues) & agents in (re-)shaping moral econ. & BC • Politicians, technocrats, cultural/religious leaders, donors, domestic/ foreign businesses (including media and marketing agencies), entrepreneurs, workers, farmers, teachers/lecturers, researchers, media, youth, elders, police, lawyers… • Conflicts of different logics: social, economic, cultural, class, gender, age • Trends in trust/mistrust, deception, malpractices, injustices • Actors’ sense making and responses to social and economic changes that affect inter-actor behaviour and relationships JW, 10/5/09

44. Further questions for debate • Link between reforms and normative dimensions of markets? • Repercussions regarding establishment of more developmental & inclusive markets and thus Gov.’ expressed policy goals (export led growth, poverty reduction, betterment of farmers)? • Can market coordination problem (e.g. sources of uncertainty in economic life) be resolved/reduced in the context of current neo-liberal economic policy mix and related wider societal and political-economic context in Uganda (& elsewhere)? • What constitutes a developmental BC in Uganda’s case? What kind of BC do Ugandans (major/minor actors & groups) want? What does that require in terms of politics, economy, culture (including moral action), society? Tensions, contradictions, prospects? • Set of neoliberal (or any other) moral norms as mode of controlling and governing people? Implications? • Uganda (East Africa/world) re moral economy in 5-10 years? • Thank you very much to all interviewees, assistants & supporters! • Contacts are very welcome: j.wiegratz@sheffield.ac.uk JW, 10/5/09