African Agency in Practice: Acquiring Agency and Institutional Change in the West African Health Organisation

This article investigates how practitioners in the West African Health Organization (WAHO) obtain and exercise autonomous political agency in the development of regional health policy. While many process-driven accounts of African agency focus on the freedom and ability of African governments and re...

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Autor principal:	Emmanuel Balogun
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	SAGE Publishing 2021
Materias:	History of Africa DT1-3415 International relations JZ2-6530 Social Sciences H
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/d4aec64cc6fb493b97cd6a2f9268e9e4
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id	oai:doaj.org-article:d4aec64cc6fb493b97cd6a2f9268e9e4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:d4aec64cc6fb493b97cd6a2f9268e9e42021-11-12T22:33:52ZAfrican Agency in Practice: Acquiring Agency and Institutional Change in the West African Health Organisation0002-03971868-686910.1177/0002039720984481https://doaj.org/article/d4aec64cc6fb493b97cd6a2f9268e9e42021-12-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1177/0002039720984481https://doaj.org/toc/0002-0397https://doaj.org/toc/1868-6869This article investigates how practitioners in the West African Health Organization (WAHO) obtain and exercise autonomous political agency in the development of regional health policy. While many process-driven accounts of African agency focus on the freedom and ability of African governments and regional organisations to act and not be acted upon, the article finds that it is necessary look within these agents to examine how they are constituted and the processes in which they acquire the capacity to be agents in their external interactions. This article shows that practitioners in WAHO rely on three institutional strategies that constitute them as agents within the organisation: networking with extra-regional partners; the inclusion of civil society in regional social policy; and the development of intra-organisational linkages to create insulation from political control. Through these strategic interactions, WAHO practitioners constitute themselves as agents within the organisation as well as autonomous agents in the broader global health theatre.Emmanuel BalogunSAGE PublishingarticleHistory of AfricaDT1-3415International relationsJZ2-6530Social SciencesHENAfrica Spectrum, Vol 56 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	History of Africa DT1-3415 International relations JZ2-6530 Social Sciences H
spellingShingle	History of Africa DT1-3415 International relations JZ2-6530 Social Sciences H Emmanuel Balogun African Agency in Practice: Acquiring Agency and Institutional Change in the West African Health Organisation
description	This article investigates how practitioners in the West African Health Organization (WAHO) obtain and exercise autonomous political agency in the development of regional health policy. While many process-driven accounts of African agency focus on the freedom and ability of African governments and regional organisations to act and not be acted upon, the article finds that it is necessary look within these agents to examine how they are constituted and the processes in which they acquire the capacity to be agents in their external interactions. This article shows that practitioners in WAHO rely on three institutional strategies that constitute them as agents within the organisation: networking with extra-regional partners; the inclusion of civil society in regional social policy; and the development of intra-organisational linkages to create insulation from political control. Through these strategic interactions, WAHO practitioners constitute themselves as agents within the organisation as well as autonomous agents in the broader global health theatre.
format	article
author	Emmanuel Balogun
author_facet	Emmanuel Balogun
author_sort	Emmanuel Balogun
title	African Agency in Practice: Acquiring Agency and Institutional Change in the West African Health Organisation
title_short	African Agency in Practice: Acquiring Agency and Institutional Change in the West African Health Organisation
title_full	African Agency in Practice: Acquiring Agency and Institutional Change in the West African Health Organisation
title_fullStr	African Agency in Practice: Acquiring Agency and Institutional Change in the West African Health Organisation
title_full_unstemmed	African Agency in Practice: Acquiring Agency and Institutional Change in the West African Health Organisation
title_sort	african agency in practice: acquiring agency and institutional change in the west african health organisation
publisher	SAGE Publishing
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/d4aec64cc6fb493b97cd6a2f9268e9e4
work_keys_str_mv	AT emmanuelbalogun africanagencyinpracticeacquiringagencyandinstitutionalchangeinthewestafricanhealthorganisation
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African Agency in Practice: Acquiring Agency and Institutional Change in the West African Health Organisation

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