Can't Buy Me Love: Development and Social Destabilization in Uganda

Development is typically only considered in relation to its quantitative economic, social, and environmental impacts. In doing so, however, a key component of subjective wellbeing - social capital - is overlooked. Social capital is foundational to community vitality, and disruptions in its formations can negatively impact subjective wellbeing and inhibit growth. This paper examines the landscape of Ugandan development in relation to social and cultural norms essential social capital formation. It finds that Ugandan institutions and microfinance institutions cultivate internecine competition within communities, directly contradicting established cooperative norms and disrupting the formation of social capital. This paper also proposes an alternate system of economic organization, based on Caja Laboral in Basque Spain, to protect social capital formation without jeopardizing growth.