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The shifting fortunes of the economic technocracy in Uganda: Caught between state-building and regime survival?

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  • Badru Bukenya
  • Sam Hickey
Abstract
Uganda’s impressive levels of economic growth over most of the past three decades have often been linked to the performance of its economic technocracy, particularly the high-powered Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development (MFPED). This paper argues that MFPED (or parts thereof) can indeed be seen as ‘pockets of effectiveness’, with the Ministry often managing to deliver effectively on its mandate, in a context in which this is not the norm. This can be explained in part by the functional and legally mandated nature of some of the tasks it delivers and in part by strong levels of international support and oversight. However, we also find that MFPED’s performance has varied considerably over time, particularly in terms of its capacity to control the budgetary process and public expenditure. This variation can be traced to shifts within Uganda’s political settlement, which moved from being broadly ‘dominant-developmental’ to ‘vulnerable-populist’ in character from the early 2000s onwards. This shift profoundly altered the ‘embedded autonomy’ that MFPED had previously enjoyed with regards its relationship with State House, in ways that have undermined MFPED’s capacity to deliver on its mandate. Despite efforts to regain both power and autonomy in recent years, MFPED remains subject to the politics of regime survival in Uganda, in ways that undermine its effectiveness. Whilst this may loosen the hold of neoliberal economic governance in Uganda and enable alternative perspectives to emerge, the more immediate effects have been to damage prospects for policy coherence and economic growth in the country.

Suggested Citation

  • Badru Bukenya & Sam Hickey, 2019. "The shifting fortunes of the economic technocracy in Uganda: Caught between state-building and regime survival?," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-121-19, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    • Handle: RePEc:bwp:bwppap:esid-121-19
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sameen A. Mohsin Ali, 2022. "Networks of Effectiveness? The Impact of Politicization on Bureaucratic Performance in Pakistan," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(2), pages 733-753, April.
    2. Marja Hinfelaar & Justine Sichone, 2019. "The challenge of sustaining a professional civil service amidst shifting political coalitions - The case of the Ministry of Finance in Zambia, 1991-2018," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series esid-122-19, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    3. Joseph Mawejje & Nicholas M. Odhiambo, 2021. "Uganda's fiscal policy reforms: What have we learned?," Public Budgeting & Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 89-107, June.

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