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4 - Crimes against Economy

The Economy of Accusation in 1970s Uganda

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2024

Kevin P. Donovan
Affiliation:
University of Edinburgh
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Summary

By the second decade of independence, Uganda’s economy groaned under the pressures of domestic misrule and international turbulence. This chapter traces the variety of popular and state reactions as price inflation and commodity shortages came to prevail. Some Ugandans experienced shortages as an affront to their ethical expectations about merit and redistribution; they accused their compatriots of misdeeds and demanded their government better manage the economy. In response, large domains of economic life were criminalized as the state tried to redirect trade toward avenues more easily taxed or regulated, including through an Economic Crimes Tribunal that indicted innumerable Ugandans. Yet, smuggling, hoarding, and overcharging proved especially bedeviling to the state, Drawing on a range of police investigations, trial records, and petitions, this chapter details the sorts of opportunistic exchanges and engagements that characterized Uganda in the 1970s, an improvisational mix of dissidence and claims-making, acquiescence and rebuke that radically challenged sovereignty and citizenship.

Type
Chapter
Information
Money, Value, and the State
Sovereignty and Citizenship in East Africa
, pp. 211 - 262
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • Crimes against Economy
  • Kevin P. Donovan, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: Money, Value, and the State
  • Online publication: 05 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009501385.005
Available formats
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  • Crimes against Economy
  • Kevin P. Donovan, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: Money, Value, and the State
  • Online publication: 05 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009501385.005
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Crimes against Economy
  • Kevin P. Donovan, University of Edinburgh
  • Book: Money, Value, and the State
  • Online publication: 05 December 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009501385.005
Available formats
×