Capitalism and Economic Crime in Africa

Jörg Wiegratz is Lecturer in Political Economy of Global Development at the University of Leeds, School of Politics and International Studies. He is Senior Research Associate, Department of Sociology, University of Johannesburg, and Research Associate at the Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs, United States International University-Africa, Nairobi. He specializes in neoliberalism, fraud and anti-fraud measures, commercialisation and economic pressure and related aspects of moral and political economy, with a focus on Uganda and Kenya. He is member of the editorial working group of Review of African Political Economy (ROAPE). His books include Neoliberal Moral Economy: Capitalism, Socio‑Cultural Change and Fraud in Uganda, Neoliberalism and the Moral Economy of Fraud (co-edited with David Whyte) and Uganda: The Dynamics of Neoliberal Transformation (co-edited with Giuliano Martiniello and Elisa Greco). Wiegratz is editor of the blog series Economic trickery, fraud and crime in Africa and Capitalism in Africa (roape.net) and co-editor of Pressure in the City (with Catherine Dolan and Mario Schmidt, developingeconomics.org).

Foreword Introduction—Criminogenic capitalism in Africa, 2023: History, reality, and analysis Part A: Fraud in neoliberalised political economies 1. Cartels as ‘fraud’? Insights from collusion in southern and East Africa in the fertiliser and cement industries 2. The rise of microcredit ‘control fraud’ in post-apartheid South Africa: from state-enforced to market-driven exploitation of the black community 3. Black economic empowerment policy in Durban, eThekwini, South Africa: economic justice, economic fraud and ‘leaving money on the table’ 4. Fake drugs: health, wealth and regulation in Nigeria 5. The political economy of intellectual property rights: the paradox of Article 27 exemplified in Ghana 6. Anti-fraud Measures in Southern Africa Part B: Going Into the Archive I – Texts From Roape.net (2015-2023) 7. Financialisation and Illegal Capital Flight 8. The London Fix: Price-Making in Capitalism 9. Beyond ‘Capture’, the Gupta Coup d’état of the South African State: A historic repeat of state, finance, and global capitalism dynamics? 10. Grand Theft Sandton: Political corruption and corporate crime as South African capitalism 11. Reforming Sonangol: Oil, corruption, and the politics of economic reform in Angola 12. Capitalism, war and plunder in the Horn of Africa 13. Exporting corporate crime with impunity 14. Being cheated by your own relatives 15. ‘Stealing back’ - Uganda’s Nasser Road, political posters, forgery and resistance Part C: Going Into the Archive II – Texts from the Print Journal (1986-2022) 16. The primitive accumulation of capital in a neo‐colony: the Nigerian case (published in 1986) 17. Understanding African Politics (1995) 18. Misunderstanding African Politics: Corruption & the Governance Agenda (1998) 19. Between Governance & Underdevelopment: Accumulation & Africa's 'Catastrophic Corruption’ (2000) 20. A Back Door to Globalisation? Structural Adjustment, Globalisation & Transborder Trade in West Africa (2003) 21. Evaluating Privatisation in Zambia: A Tale of Two Processes (2000) 22. Conflict in Central Africa: Clandestine Networks & Regional/Global Configurations (2003) 23. Beyond minerals: broadening ‘economies of violence’ in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (2013) 24. The politics of incontournables: entrenching patronage networks in eastern Congo’s mineral markets (2021) 25. ‘Illegal’ gold mining and the everyday in post-apartheid South Africa (2022) 26. Crony capitalist deals and investment in South Africa’s platinum belt: a case study of Anglo American Platinum’s scramble for mining rights, 1995–2019 (2022) 27. International crude oil theft: elite predatory tendencies in Nigeria (2015) 28. Rentierism and security privatisation in the Nigerian petroleum industry: assessment of oil pipeline surveillance and protection contracts (2018) 29. Regulating Illicit Trade in Natural Resources: The Role of Regional Actors in West Africa (2003) 30. ‘The first dragon to slay’: unpacking Kenya’s war on drugs (2016) 31. Beyond forceful measures: Tanzania’s ‘war on poaching’ needs diversified strategies more than militarised tactics (2017) 32. Historical roots of militarised conservation: the case of Uganda (2021) 33. Anti-fraud measures in Western Africa and commentary on research findings across the three regions analysed (2022) Comments on Capitalism and Economic Crime in Africa: The Neoliberal Period