Doing Business in Cameroon
An Anatomy of Economic Governance

A vivid ethnographic study of cattle traders, truckers, public contractors and NGO actors' everyday encounters with state bureaucracies in Ngaoundéré, Cameroon.

José-María Muñoz (Author)

9781108428996, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 September 2018

242 pages, 7 b/w illus. 2 maps
23.5 x 15.6 x 1.5 cm, 0.53 kg

'… because of the richness of its ethnography, the book is also important beyond Cameroon. It opens possibilities for the discerning reader to connect this ethnography to many threads of anthropological discussion on the political economy of liberalization in sub-Saharan African states as well as other regions outside the continent, including postsocialist economies in Europe and Asia.' Rogers Orock, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

From the mid-1980s to the early 2000s, images of crisis and reform dominated talk of Cameroon's economy. Doing Business in Cameroon examines the aftermath of that period of turbulence and unpredictability in the northern city of Ngaoundéré. Taking the everyday encounters between business actors and state bureaucrats as its point of departure, the book vividly illustrates the backstage and interconnected dynamics of four different sectors (cattle trade, trucking, public contracting, and NGO work). Drawing on his training in law and social anthropology, the author is able to clarify intricate policy dynamics and abstruse legal developments for readers. A widespread picture emerges of actors grappling with the long-term implications of selective or suspended enforcement of legal rules. The book deftly illuminates a set of shifting configurations in which economic outcomes like monetary gains or the circulation of goods are achieved by foregoing the possibility of relying on or complying with the law.

Acknowledgements
List of figures
Acronyms
Introduction: doing business in Cameroon
1. Making a living in Ngaoundéré
2. The ordering of public things
3. 'Cattle saves the day'
4. On and off the road
5. Under 'the NGO label'
Conclusion: letting pass, letting go
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: International economics [KCL], Economics [KC], Society & culture: general [JF], African history [HBJH], History [HB], Humanities [H]