ABSTRACT
The moral economy of European Union (EU)-Africa Association has been bolstered by aid concessions in the Cotonou era. Indeed, in the contemporary moral economy of EU-Africa Association, budget support has played a prominent role in embedding legitimating norms relating to poverty reduction and an egalitarian partnership. The moral economy of EU-Africa Association is updated with recourse to budget support narratives in the Post Washington Consensus. Contrary to the legitimising premise of the moral economy of EU-Africa Association, Whitfield and Jones remark that the budget support structures facilitate working across government ministries they also increase donor's access to policy discussions to increase their power in policy-making processes. This discussion of budget support in the moral economy of EU-Africa Association has significant parallels to wider debates surrounding developing country sovereignty in the Post-Washington Consensus. Nkrumah's diagnosis of neo-colonialism has much resonance in the current analysis of EU budget support to Ghana, and the moral economy more broadly.
