The dialectics of agency and structure in transitional democracy E-Book

Samson Ajagbe

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Doctoral Thesis / Dissertation from the year 2015 in the subject Sociology - Politics, Majorities, Minorities, grade: 1,8, University of Freiburg (Institute of Sociology), course: Sociology, language: English, abstract: This thesis argues that we can no longer ignore elite’s enrolment of institutions in rendering what they do intelligible as political outcomes in our understanding of African politics. The complex interdependency between elites and institution inheres into politics in ways political practices and actions are fabricated as permissible in the state of affair. This interaction is best understood through Actor-Network Theory (ANT) which essentializes hybridization in its conceptualization of the world. In this network thinking, transitional elites align and advance their interests through translating and enrolling institutions in the process of democratization. The analysis draws from Nigeria’s democratization experience to bring together the institutional components of the state and leadership, i.e. elites, which have been mostly analyzed as separate entities in the study of democratization. The actor-network theory is used both as a conceptual frame and as a method for analyzing democratization as an outcome of the content of the two main societal forces— elite and institution. The actor-network theory’s, developed by Michel Callon and Bruno Latour, and their collaborators, flat ontology provides a way to bypass agency/structure dichotomy to inscribe network thinking in relations of democratization in Africa. The actor-network was originally theorized by Focault but not nurtured and, therefore, muted in his governmentality study. In this view, this thesis builds on the explanatory potentials of network analysis that enable a socio-technical account of political transition with all those particularities, contradictions and surprising turn of events. The “old-guard autocrats” in politics in Nigeria is used as the human element of the network. The non-human element is operationalized through the institutionalized power sharing norm and political patronage relationships. The analysis thus recognizes the interaction between the human (elites) and the non-human (institution) as actors that define adaptive and emergent characters of democratization.

Leseprobe

Impressum:

Copyright (c) 2015 GRIN Verlag / Open Publishing GmbH, alle Inhalte urheberrechtlich geschützt. Kopieren und verbreiten nur mit Genehmigung des Verlags.

Bei GRIN macht sich Ihr Wissen bezahlt! Wir veröffentlichen kostenlos Ihre Haus-, Bachelor- und Masterarbeiten.

Jetzt bei www.grin.com

Acknowledgement

To God Be the Glory! I owe every good thing in my life to God, the author and finisher of faith. I want to especially thank my wife for her full unconditional and loving support throughout the entire period of writing this dissertation.

 I would also like to thank my advisor Prof. Dr. Hermann Schwengel, who not only shares a number of interests and perspectives on the subject; he is also an excellent teacher and friend. I am also grateful the external reviewer Prof. Dr. Elisio Macamo of the Center for African Study, University of Basel.

 A number of people were also critical to my success. My good friend- Mike Kinville- can never be forgotten. He has been so supportive throughout. I am thankful for all his supports and encouragements.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgement

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Working Hypotheses

1.3 Organization of Chapters

1.4 References

CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE

2.1 Perspectives on Democracy: The Classical Democracy Terminology

2.2 Contemporary Democracy Conceptualization

2.3 Approaches to democratization

2.3.1 Structural Approach

2.3.2 Contingent Approaches

2.3.3 International Approaches

2.4 The Paradox of Post-Cold War Democratization in Africa

2.5 Conclusion

2.6 References

CHAPTER III: THEORETICAL CONSIDERATION

3.1 Actor-Network Theory (ANT)

3.1 References

CHAPTER IV: METHODOLOGY

4.1 Introduction

4.2 The epistemological and ontological aspects

4.3 Paradigm of inquiry: the rationale for actor network analysis and qualitative inquiry

4.4 The process of conducting the study

4.4.1 Research question and assumption

4.4.1.1 Research question

4.4.1.2 Hypothesis

4.4.2 The “old-autocrats” in politics: an actor-network approach

4.5 Plan and Instrumentation

4.5.1 Commencement and Initial Problems

4.5.2 Theoretical Classifications

4.5.3 Cognitive

4.5.4 Political and Cultural Circumstances

4.5.5 Assessing Data

4.6 Conclusion

4. 7 References

CHAPTER V: INTERPRETATION OF THE HUMAN AND NON-HUMAN ACTORS

5.1 The human element

5.1.2 Interessement and Enrollment: The politics of affect and the influx of retired military officers in politics

5.1.2.1 Affective reaction as enrollment: the acceptance of interest as focal actor

5.2 The non-human element: Inscribing Institution in Actor-Network

5.2.1 Institutional Arrangements: the subject, object and informal institutions

5.3 Conclusion

5.4 References

CHAPTER VI: PERFORMING POLITICAL TRANSITION: A SOCIO-TECHNICAL ACCOUNT

6.1 Socio-technical account of political transition

6.1.1 The Landscape: Macro-Level Political Culture and Social Values

6.1.2 The Meso-Level Regime of Power-Sharing

6.1.3 The Micro Level─ Local Practices and Politics of Resentment

6.2 Conclusion

6.3 References

CHAPTER VII: Conclusion

7.1 Summary

7.2 Is democracy possible in post-colonial societies?

7.3 References

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

For more than three decades, political change has been largely studied through the lenses of emergent and transformative social change theories, thus sequencing it in a particular teleological action course. For instance, scholars have explored the causes of political change (Wiseman 1995; Lipset 1959; Almond and Verba 1963; Dahl 1971; Moore 1966), modes of transition to democracy (Guillermo O’Donnell 1979; Huntington 1991; Linz 1990, 1993; Higley and Burton 1989; Edvarsen 1987, DiPalma 1990) and the characteristics of new political systems (Linde 2009, Koonings and Kruijt, 2002), conceptualizing political change as a short sequence of action on the part of agents or structures.

Although these theories have supplied us with complex theoretical models to diagnose the role of the state and how it adapts to shifting global realities, the elite and how it responds to the crisis of change through self-transformation and the requisites of democracy, they are tentative in their appreciation of the interaction between interpersonal rules and personal values. The assumption is that: Personal values have implications on the functioning of institutions to the same extent that institutions constrain individual actions. Therefore, this thesis addresses itself to the complex interdependency between agency and structure by examining elite’s enrolment of institutions in rendering what they do intelligible as political outcomes that is how elites work with and through institution in shaping political reality in Nigeria.

The aim is to account for the dialectical relationships{1} of agency (elites) and structure (institutions) that inform the character of social change as alternating patterns of intermittent social reorganization (Blau 1986, p. 336). This approach finds its theoretical orientation in actor-network theory (ANT) that puts structure and agency into an intimate relationship in defining how the state of affairs is fabricated, that is how political activities is actually performed (in a particular context). The inscription and enrollment of institutions by focal political actors in making practices and actions meaningful in their own context underpinned the process of translation. The translation process consists of four phases{2}: problematisation, intressement, enrollment and mobilization (Callon 1986).

It is therefore not possible to fully understand transformation and its outcome unless one sees the human─ in terms of the values of some individual—and non-human or impersonal─ in terms of the institutions (Riker 1980, p. 432) in interactional way in terms of an actor-network, with its content shaping the topography of democratization. The limit of dominant approaches to African politics stems from their insistence on treating “institution” and “actor” as separate exhaustive explanatory entities. In order to overcome this limit to understanding African politics, it is imperative to draw on Sociology of Translation (or the Actor-Network Theory) to render the interface of elite and institution available for research.

Although the actor/strategy perspective (Linz 1990, O’Donnell and Schmitter 1986, Linz and Stepan 1996, DiPalma 1990, Edvardsen 1997), and the politico-institutional approach (Almond and Verba 1965, Lipset 1959, Bratton and van de Walle 1997), follow in their core arguments that political variables such as leadership and institutional structures are prime determinants in shaping the process of political transition and reify the importance of agency or structures in the socio-political change process, they have only been able to provide us with analyses that suggest actors or structures impact the transition process without an explanation of the complex interdependency between the humans and the institutional structures that define the character of socio-political change.

In postulating an interactional perspective, the content of the outcome of a particular transition process is defined through the interaction process of the “elites” and “institutions”. In this viewpoint, the focal actor mobilizes, mediates and enrolls institutions in the processes of achieving a desired political change, and hence political change, in terms of values and social and political formations, is constantly produced at every point of the resolution of controversies. Clemens and Cook have noted that scholars have recognized the interrelationship of political actors and institutions and have attempted to conceptualize it through the structuration theory (1999, p. 442).

 To the extent that democracy functions, it has to be viewed through the ways actions and words produce it as reality and on the basis of how political activities that made it up are performed rather than as a theory of government applicable in practice. Accordingly, the human and the non-human forces that influence social decisions are submitted as necessary conditions that define the character of socio-political transformation{3}, since neither force is sufficient.

In order to analyze socio-political transformation as a social outcome, which is shaped by heterogeneous societal forces, this thesis sets out to reconstruct political relations as “spaces of negotiation” – a configuration of the relations between values of some individuals and institutions – and how it defines the latent and manifest nature of socio-political transformation. In this attempt, I draw on the actor-network theory (ANT) to outline the human element (i.e. old-guard autocrats){4} and the non-human elements (institutions){5} – although both seems to operate in their respective spaces, they are inevitably interwoven in their functioning – as a gathering of collectives that have some degree of influence on and input into the content of social output (democracy).

In analyzing democratization process as complex interaction of human and non-human agencies, the aim of this thesis is threefold: My first analytical focus accounts for the human and non-human dimensions of the actor networks{6}. The human elements, who are the focal actors, manipulate the other elements by translating their will into its own ways. In other words, I address how “old-guard autocrats” try to dress up in new democratic clothes – a new style of political participation – by capturing active political positions and creating their own clientelistic networks. This begs two questions: (a) how do they build those networks; and (b) what are their impacts on democracy?

The analytical focus on the non-human elements springs from the latter question and hence addresses the inscription of institutions in actor-network. The symmetrical relationship of the “old-guard autocrats” (agency) and the institutions (structures) leads us to the second goal of this study, which is how the focal actor is manipulating the institutions, that is the non-human elements, in the protection of its interest. Bruno Latour describes this process as inscription (1988, 1992). This part explains how the “conservative orders” preserve themselves in a system (democracy) that is in the first instance expected to be “populist” in nature. How do the “old-guard autocrats” work with and through institutions in a “democracy”?

As an outcome of the content of the human and institutional forces, democracy in post-colonial African states is understood as a site for production and resolution of political tensions. This dissertation, using the actor-network theory (ANT), approaches democratization from this perspective─ a perspective that sees neither force as sufficient for illustrating the nature of a democracy. It is an approach that draws almost equally on methodological traditions in the social sciences that emphasize institutions, on the one hand, and on the other, those that emphasize individual values as determinants of social outcomes. Riker states that, “the emphasis on institution is our classical heritage”{7}, while the emphasis on individual values finds it root in our Christian heritage (1980, p. 432).

In the sense of aligning these two traditions, the argument establishes how the contents of institutions, as well as that of the elite, determine the transitory nature of transformation. At its core therefore, this thesis provides an exclusive account of democracy by paying attention to the network dynamics of the human and non-human elements in the social system.

Therefore, emphasis is laid on what I described as a residue of authoritarianism, i.e. the “old-guard autocrats” (being the human force), in Nigeria’s elite-driven transition to democracy as simply a part of the network elements (the others being the non-human elements) that informs and shapes the democratization in the country. The motive is to make a full statement of social causation that includes them both. In achieving this objective, the ANT offers the necessary theoretical and methodological tools to carry out the symmetry.

In this regard, the ANT, as a theory, provides us with a lens to illuminate our understanding of the relationships between the ‘actants’ (i.e., both human and non-human) in Nigeria’s democratization. The idea is to follow the ways in which actors{8}, both human and non-human, define the nexus between the social and the political in the transformation from the old to the new regime. As such, the ANT serves a dual purpose; first, it will enable us to rethink the very idea of democratic transition as a domain of the political distinct from the social constitution of the society. Second, it will make clearer the importance of the two societal forces as necessary condition for social outcome, since neither force is a sufficient condition (Riker 1980, p. 432).

As a shift from the agency/structure dualism, the third aim of this thesis is to analyze how political transition is actually performed in Nigeria. Looking particularly at the dialectical relationship of agency and structure, this section addresses itself to how they define the nature of democratization. The structures are explored at the macro and the meso analytical levels while the agency is explored at the micro-analytical level. It thus adopts the socio-technical perspective in accounting for these levels of the transitioning process. By analyzing political transition as a complex adaptive process of change, this section embraces the fluidity of ANT and explores the process of democratization as performed phenomena.

This study therefore sheds clearer light on the actors, actions and social relations as they define socio-political transformation as an ongoing process in Nigeria. To use Carrigan’s and Mills’ term, the tenet is that the endgame is transitory (2012, p. 255). Therefore, interpersonal rules, that is, institutions, must affect social outcomes just as much as personal values, that is, the influence of a few elites. Interpersonal rules and personal values are societal forces{9} that affect one another, and their contents define the latent and manifest nature of any social outcome.

By exploring how phenomenon such as democratization is produced and reproduced through networks of elites and institutions, and how this phenomenon also shapes its human and non-human components in return, this study goes beyond explanations that limit democratic transitions to a sort of linear “teleological” analysis.{10} Therefore, the ANT, as it is used here, provides a valuable framework for the empirical analysis of the social phenomenon of democratic transitioning insofar as it involves networks of heterogeneous actors which condition social decisions.

1.1 Working Hypotheses

1) The “spaces of negotiation” condition the nature of socio-political transformation.

 The “spaces of negotiation” comprises the social forces that have an impact on social outcomes. A “space of negotiation” is a configuration of the relations between the two main societal forces – values of a few individuals and institutions. Neither of these forces is sufficient for defining the latent and manifest nature of a social outcome, such as socio-political transformation. Rather, they are both necessary conditions for a social outcome. See diagram 3 for an account of the relationship between the spaces of negotiation and socio-political transformation.

2) Socio-political transformation is as infinite as the “spaces of negotiation”.

The “spaces of negotiation” is perpetually defined by the actors’ interests ─ a variable that cannot be held constant. The content of a social outcome continuously gets redefined as long as the actors in the political space keep seeking a better deal, which is a common phenomenon in multi-ethnic transitioning countries, creating unstable political interests among groups. The relationships between agency and institution become dialectics as they keep reproducing themselves at every point of resolving any controvercies.

In the next section, I offered a brief account of the background that creates a condition for the focal actor, which is the “old-guard autocrat”, as a collective human element that can influence the outcome of a social decision in Nigeria. It is submitted as an important human element that affects the content of socio-political transformation – socio-political transformation is viewed here as the outcome of the content of the two main forces, i.e. the values of some individuals and institutions that shape people’s behavior in Nigeria. In ANT terms, this is the obligatory passage point (OPP){11}- a situation that has to occur for the actors to satisfy the interest that has been attributed to them by the focal actor. The ability of the “old-guard autocrats” to manipulate other elements of the network to ensure they are in line with its interest is further explained in this section.

1.2 Obligatory Passage Point (OPP): The “old guard autocrats”

With the end of the Cold War in 1989, Africa marked the beginning of new, but still uncertain, and only gradually emerging prospects for an African political and economic renaissance (Harbeson 2009, p. 4). The global decline in the number of autocratic regimes coincided with the rise of a new world order after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of Cold War. This world order – which has often been referred to as globalization – privileges democracy over any other forms of governance.

The idea that democracy spreads{12} alongside economic liberalization has been widely adopted by many countries in Africa. Although, most of these countries have not measured up completely in practicing democratic principles and liberal ideals (Linde 2009, Carothers 2002, Diamond 2002, 2005), the establishment of democratic political systems in these nations symbolized the post-Cold War social and political renaissance in Africa. Therefore, the post-Cold War opening of the political space through the reintroduction of competitive elections has served as the catalyst for social, political and elite transformation in many African states.

In Nigeria, as in most of the transitioning African countries, the combinations of external and internal conditions led to the process of democratic transitioning in the 1990s. The external environment as a result of the global spread of democracy led to the intensification of local campaigns{13} for democratic government. The combined pressure on the then military government culminated in the transition to democracy which climaxed with the aborted third republic, aptly described in literature as the ‘transition without end’ (Diamond et al, 1997) or ‘permanent transition’ (Lewis, 1999).

With the widespread disenchantment with military rule, and national unity fractured by ethnic, regional and religious divisions, the nation was at the brink of collapse during the Abacha years{14}. It was therefore a necessity to transition from military rule to democracy. The transition was initiated during the Abacha years, but was completed by Abdul Salam Abubakar following the death of the former. The sudden death of General Abacha in 1998 and “the emergence of General Abdulsalami Abubakar as the new head of state served as the catalyst for the country’s return to democratization” (Badmus 2005, p. 60-61).

This necessity for democratization enabled the military’s pact to transition to democracy. Accordingly, eight months prior to the dawn of the twenty-first century, the military led transition to democracy had been completed and power was handed over to the newly elected democratic government. The pacted nature of the transition in 1999 makes the “old-guard autocrats” an important feature of the transition. By means of their role and stake in the transition, they have become an “obligatory passage point (OPP)” in any analysis of socio-political transformation in Nigeria. They were indispensable in the process of democratic transition in that they defined the process of action (or rather the other actors) in democratic transformation.

In light of this, the post-Cold War social, economic and political formation in Nigeria was deeply entrenched in the country’s history of military rule{15}. As a result, the dynamics of post-authoritarian social and political transformation in the country were largely influence by the “old-guard autocrats” who had held political office during military rule and most of whom are now in active politics. Therefore, the existence of “old-guard autocrats” in positions of political power is a significant feature of the contemporary Nigerian political system.

Arising from the need to protect their vested political and economic interests and to remain dominant and influential in the polity, ex-generals, most of whom had held political offices during military rule, frequently entered politics{16} (Badmus 2005, p. 56, Obi 2004, 2008, p. 326). This condition portrays a seeming fusion of politically and economically dominant classes. “Amza Alavi discuses a ‘bureaucratic-military oligragy’ which has an independence supported by an autonomous material base and which performs a mediating role between the rival demands of three propertied social classes” (See, Rothchild and Olorunsola 1983, p. 3).

With representation in key positions in the executive and legislative branches of the federal government and in political parties, the “old-guard autocrats” in politics have become part of the imperative agent of social and political transformation, particularly through clientelism.{17} As part of the wider patron-client relations networks (god-father/god-son phenomenon) in the polity, the networks of the “old-autocrats” is part of the heterogeneous network that influences the outcome of social decisions. The concern here is directed toward the need for socio-political transformation in the polity.

Being the human element, I ascribed to the “old-guard autocrat” a status as the focal actor. The other actants, i.e. institutions, in the actor-network include the subject (democracy), and the object (patron-client politics and power-sharing institution). The respective networks of these actors are described from the perspective of the structural explanation of actor-network analysis. Network research embraces a distinctive perspective that focuses on relations among actors, whether they are individuals, work units or organizations. According to the network perspective, actors{18} are embedded within networks of interconnected relationships that provide opportunities for and constrain behavior (Brass, Galaskiewicz, Greve, and Tsai 2004, p. 795).

In light of this perspective, the political and social influence being pursued and practiced by the old-guard politicians through various alternative strategies and actions not only forms part of the structures that support the national unity but also impacts the important process of transitioning from the ancienrégime{19} to the prevailing order (democracy).

This is neither to overblow the importance of this set of elites nor to view this as a cohesive force with defined objectives, but rather to see their existential role as part of the national management of diversity. In Nigeria, elite status depends primarily on the position and wealth its possessor. These ex-generals came into their power positions and their accumulated wealth during military rule, in the social structure. “Pareto stressed the ‘order’ or ‘system’ of elites and how it often overrides the ‘conscious will’ of individual elite members in shaping their actions” (Higley and Bratton 2006, p.8). As argued by Wright Mills (1956), a small group of very powerful individuals represent the “power elite”.{20}

Therefore, the indirect consequence of political and social influence of the “old-guard autocrats” on the system is the relatively stable democratic process. The “old-guard autocrats” are a part of the agencies of political and social transformation toward grounding liberal political and social systems in the polity. For the time being, this will remain so.

The structure of ego-centered networks of retired military officers in politics supported a pattern of patrimonialism which informed the dynamics of political and social relationships between elites. This is explained in chapter five of this thesis in terms of the politics of affect. The “old-guard autocrats” in politics therefore do not only present a case for the transformation of former military elites who are part of the ancienrégime to democrats, but as actors, they play crucial roles in the creation of an actor-network that defines the sociopolitical transformation process in the country.

Therefore, in contrast to most submissions that the influx of retired military officers in politics is more or less the imposition of new dictatorship in the form of de-democratization (Mormoh, A. 2006), the civilianization of the retired military elite (Obi, 2004) or the simplified normative assessment of retired military officers as prominent in the contemporary Nigerian socio-political scene (Adekanye, B. 1999, Walker, J. 1999; Fayemi K.J. 2003, Ajayi, A. 2007, Agbese, D. 2000), this dissertation divulges from these by highlighting the strong relationship between this group of elites (as the human actants), institutions (non human actants) and the socio-political transformation in the polity. This analysis of the embedding of human and non-human actors in the transitioning process, the ANT’s concept of irreversibility, (Walsham, 1997) is performed in the sixth chapter.

In this chapter, I also draw on the analytical framework of patronage politics to explain the linkages between the elites and the socio-political transformation process. The former military officers who are now politicians offer an avenue to explain the linkages between the elites and the social structure. In other words, the movement from military rule (non-democratic society) to a consolidated democratic regime opened up the national political space and exposed the electorate to the politics of patronage democracies.

While, as it is argued in chapter five, their networks that cut across various ethnic groups in the polity is an attempt to balance competing interests and maintain the status quo, this argument is reinforced by the analysis of the ways it nurtures a form of solidarity (analyzed as affective solidarity) among these group that allows political clients to build personalized linkages to powerful superiors while at the same time developing generic attachments through ethnic affiliations to supportive inferiors.

Therefore, by embracing the actor-network approach in the macro analysis of socio-political transformation in Nigeria, this study moves beyond “empathy as a privileged way of connecting with others”{21}, to affective transformation. From this perspective, affective politics becomes a necessary mechanism for the politics of change to influence others to bring about the desired socio-political transformation.

Brass et al. (2004) argue that from a network perspective on power and influence, actors in central network positions have greater access to, and potential control over, relevant resources. Arts and Verschuren (1999) argue that one reason to assess the political influence of actors concerns the division of influence among stakeholders in decision-making. According to them, such knowledge makes it possible to test the premise of democracy: whether the making of decisions in all kinds of organizations is truly democratic in nature or is dominated by one or a few elites (Dahl, 1961; Hunter, 1953; Mills, 1956 in Arts and Verschuren 1999, p. 411-412).

By analysing the “old-guard autocrats”as a collective which constitutes a focal actor in the heterogeneous actor-network of human and non-human elements – the non-human elements involve democracy as an institution, its objects such as power-sharing and clientelistics politics, coalition formation and interest groups, and the relational factors like cleavages and geopolitical division – the task of identifying all of the heterogeneous elements, which is known as the problem of selection in actor-network theory, has been overcome. The focal actor provides us with a crucial clarifying factor for explaining the actor-networks in a socio-political transitional setting.

1.3 Organization of Chapters

This dissertation is organized into seven chapters. The first part, which is this introduction, establishes the research territory by discussing the background and establishing the areas of focus. The research hypothesis is also stated there.

The second part reviews what is already known about democracy and approaches to democratization. The aim of the chapter is to review, critique, and synthesize representative literature on democracy and democratization in a formerly authoritarian state. It thus addresses the question of how and why post-colonial society installed and consolidated a “not fully democratic” and “not fully authoritarian” method of government. The chapter is organized into five sections. The first part introduces the chapter. The second section offers the theoretical perspectives on classical democracy terminology. This is followed by the contemporary conceptualization of democracy. The fourth part is an analysis of the major approaches to democratization. The last part discourses the paradox of democracy as it relates to this society.

The third chapter includes the theoretical considerations. In this section, I present an account of work on actor-network theory or the sociology of translation and its applicability to this study. I examine the actor-network theory (ANT) as a framework for analysing the established relationships of equivalence between human agency and the established structural patterns of behavior toward political transition. This enables an analysis of a socio-technical process of transformation, in chapter six, in which institutions forge the political culture and values through which actors seek to translate themselves in the process of democratization.

In the fourth chapter, the methods of research are clearly presented. As a result of its importance to this study, it is divided into segments for the purpose of structured analysis. There are six sections in all. I introduce the chapter in the first section, the next segment is about epistemological and ontological aspects and then this is followed by an explanation of the rationale behind the actor network analysis. I further provide a clear analysis of the process of conducting the study that includes an outline of the research hypothesis and an actor-network approach that depicts the “old-guard autocrats” in politics. I proceed to explain the research plan and instrumentation, and this also includes the process of data collection. The last section of the chapter is the conclusion.

The fifth section is a systematic analysis of the actants, i.e. both human and non-human elements of the network, so as to unambiguously illustrate its use in the context of transformation. I analyse, in the first part of the chapter, the importance of “political affect” in understanding the influx of retired military officers in politics. I argue that the participation of “old-guard autocrats” is mainly driven by affect, thus affective solidarity. The “affective solidarity” further enables the conceptualization of the “old-guard autocrats” as actors in the actor-network.

In the second part, I perform an analysis of the inscription of the non-human actor (institutions) in the network. Here, the institutional arrangements are explored as the structural and cultural substances which have an impact on socio-political transformation. The focal actor inscribes and enrolls institutions in the actor-network by manipulating them to do its will, which highlights the importance of the agency of non-human actors in a socio-political transition.

 In the sixth section, I extend the analysis in chapter five to wholly describe the democratization neither as evolutionary progress in a straight line nor as recurring cycles but rather as alternating patterns of intermittent social reorganization along different lines (Blau, 1986, p. 336). In doing this, I illustrate that very political transition in Nigeria, by way of positioning it for analysis as a complex adaptive process of structural change. It is an ingenious approach of applying the theoretical analysis of the complex adaptive system to a socio-technical account of transition. The section provides an in-depth analysis of the actor-networks to make clearer the impact of these two social forces on social outcomes.

In the conclusion, I restate the thesis that personal values have implications for the functioning of institutions as much as the institution constrains individual actions so as to drive home the main point one last time. This is followed by a summary section, where I present a synopsis of the argument that in every social interaction, there is the humanistic and non-humanistic aspect that shapes such interaction. The chapter is rounded up with a brief discussion of the implication of this research for democracy promotion. In this regard, I introduce a brief argument on the possibility of democracy in post-colonial societies.

1.4 References

ABUBAKAR, M. (2006) Democracy and Sustainable Development in Nigeria. In Mohammed S.L (eds.). Civilian and Security Agencies Relationship: Role of Military in Consolidating Democracy in Nigeria, (Proceedings of a National Workshop Part II, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung)

ADEKANYE, B. (1999a) Reforming the Character of Civil-Military Realations for Democratic Governance in Nigerian after 1999. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lagos Distinguished Lecture Series 2005, No. 8

_____________ (1999b) The Retired Military as Emergent Power Factorin Nigeria. Ibadan: Heinemann

ACEMOGLU, D and ROBINSON, J. A. (1999) A Theory of Political Transition International MacroeconomicsPublic Policy [Online], Available from www.cepr.org/pubs/dps/DP2277.asp

AGBESE, D. (2000) Fellow Nigerians: Turning Points in the Political History of Nigeria. Ibadan: Umbrelaa Books

AHLUWALIA, P. (2001) Politics and Post Colonial Theory: African inflections. London: Rutledge

AJAYI, A (2007) The Military and The Nigerian State 1966-1993: a study of the strategies of political power control. Trenton NJ: African World Press.

ALMOND, G. A. and VERBA, S. P. (1963) The Civic Culture: an analytic study; political attitudes and democracy in 5 nations. Boston: Little Brown

BADMUS, I. A. (2005) Retired military officers in politics and the future of democracy in Nigeria. Africa Insight Vol. 35(3) 2005: 55-63 

BRASS, D. J., GALASKIEWICZ , J., GREVE, H. R., TSAI. W. (2004) “Taking Stock of Networks and Organization: a multilevel”, Academy of Management Journal, Dec, Volume: 47 Issue: 6 pp.795-817.

BRATTON, M. and Van De WALLE, N. (1994) “Neopatrimonial Regimes and Political Transition in Africa”, World Politics, Vol. 46, No. 4 (Jul., 1994), pp. 453-489

BRATTON, M. and van de WALLE, N. (1997) Democratic Experiments in Africa: regime Transitions in Comparative Perspective. New York: Cambridge University Press

BLAU, P. M. (1986) Exchange and Power in Social Life. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers

CALLON, M. (1986) Some elements of a sociology translation: domestication of the scallops and the fishermen St. Brieuc Bay. In Law, J. (eds.). Power, Action and Belief: A New Sociology of Knowledge. London, Boston and Henley: Routledge & Kegan Paul

CALLON, M. (1991) “Techno-economic networks and irreversibility” in J. Law (eds.). A sociology of Monsters: Essays on Power, technology and domination. London: Routledge.

CAROTHERS, R. (2002) “The End of Transition Paradigm”, Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 1 (January)

CHABAL, P and DALOZ, J. (1999) Africa Works: disorder as political instrument. Indiana: Indiana University Press

CHANDRA, K. (2005) Ethnic parties and democratic stability. Perspectives on Politics, Vol. 3, No. 2, 535–252

CLEMENS, E. S. and COOK, J. M. (1999) Politics and Institutionalism: Explaining Durability and Change. Annual Review of Sociology, Vol. 25, pp. 441-466

CORRIGAN, L. T. and MILLS, A. J. (2012) Men on board: Actor-network theory, feminism and gendering the past, Management & Organizational History 7: 3 pp. 251-265

CZUDNOWSKI, M. M. (1983) Political Elites and Social Change. Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press.

DAHL, R. A. (1971) Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition, New Haven: Yale University Press

DIAMOND, L. (2002) Election Without Democracy: Thinking About Hybrid Regime. Journal of Democracy, Vol. 13, No. 2 April 2002 pp 21-33.

DIAMOND, L. et al (1997) Transition Without End: Nigerian Politics and Civil Society Under Babangida. London: Lynne Rienner

DiPALMA, G. (1990) To Craft Democracies: An Essay on Democratic Transition, Berkerly: University of Carlifornia

DOMHOFF, G. W. (1980) (eds.) Power Structure Research. California and London: Sage Publication.

EDVARSEN, U. (1987) A Cultural Approach to Understanding Modes of Transition to Democracy. Journal of Theoretical Politics(April) vol. 9, no. 2, pp211-234