This electronic thesis or dissertation has been downloaded from Explore Bristol Research, http://research-information.bristol.ac.uk Author: Akinleye, Modupe I Title: Boko Haram and the Discourse of Terrorism in Nigeria Discourse, Politics and Hegemony General rights Access to the thesis is subject to the Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International Public License. A copy of this may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode This license sets out your rights and the restrictions that apply to your access to the thesis so it is important you read this before proceeding. Take down policy Some pages of this thesis may have been removed for copyright restrictions prior to having it been deposited in Explore Bristol Research. However, if you have discovered material within the thesis that you consider to be unlawful e.g. breaches of copyright (either yours or that of a third party) or any other law, including but not limited to those relating to patent, trademark, confidentiality, data protection, obscenity, defamation, libel, then please contact [email protected] and include the following information in your message: •Your contact details •Bibliographic details for the item, including a URL •An outline nature of the complaint Your claim will be investigated and, where appropriate, the item in question will be removed from public view as soon as possible. Title: Boko Haram and the Discourse of Terrorism in Nigeria: Discourse, Politics and Hegemony MODUPE IDOWU AKINLEYE A dissertation submitted to the University of Bristol in accordance with the requirements for award of the degree of PhD in the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law, University of Bristol, submitted in October 2019 Word Count: Seven-Seven Thousand, Five Hundred and Eighty-Eight 1 2 Abstract The issue of terrorism has become one of the topmost concerns of US-Nigerian Foreign policy in connection with the Global War on Terror. As a result of the ‘shift’ of the GWOT into Nigeria, Boko Haram was proscribed as a terrorist organisation in 2013. Extant research on Boko Haram’s terrorism in Nigeria and other parts of Africa is however premised on/driven by some essentialist thoughts and thus remains normative. Yet the proscription of Boko Haram reveals both continuities and change in relation to earlier constructs of the Nigerian state and non- state actors since the Cold War. Through the power of discourse, state actors silence complicities and ‘fix’ the meaning of the violence of others while excluding other possible narratives in order to arrive at discursive constructs which remain self-serving. These continuities in identity constructs therefore highlight the need for a post structural thought in understanding terrorism in Nigeria particularly and Africa generally. In particular, this thesis suggests that the labelling of Boko Haram as a terrorist organisation in Nigeria reveals the continuities of Othering of actors through the signification of ‘crises’ in policy discourse. This is premised on the perception of Africa by the ‘West’ as a site of ongoing disorder. The thesis uses Homi Bhabha’s concept of Otherness as well as Laclau and Mouffe’s Discourse Theory to understand the construction of the ‘terrorist threat’, and the ‘United States Self’, ‘the counter terrorist state’, and the ‘terrorist other’. As no known study has undertaken to show how the labelling of Boko Haram works through discursive power and politics as well as the function of silence in meta narratives, this research is therefore particularly significant as the focus on policy and its implementers in Nigeria helps to unveil the silence in the discursive construction of the ‘strong’ state as the state which counters ‘evil’ terrorists. However, unlike Traditional Terrorism Studies which highlights the state as a possible user of terrorism, the thesis adds to the Critical Terrorism Studies by examining how the production of the discourses within which the labelling of acts and actors of ‘terrorism’ have evolved and how practices like counter- terrorism enabled by these discourses become justified and normalized. 3 Dedication and Acknowledgement: I am grateful to God, family and friends who supported me through this lonely and difficult journey. Particularly I am grateful to my spouse, Mr A. A. Ajibade for his relentless effort in supporting me so far. My gratitude without fail goes to my supervisors: Dr Adrian Flint and Dr Elspeth Van Veeren for their unwavering support throughout the dark times. All I could say is THANK YOU. I would like to appreciate the examiners of this thesis: Dr Christopher Baker-Beall and Dr Ryerson Christie. This work is dedicated to Daniel Adewole Ajibade, my dear son, who was just a few weeks old when I started this research. 4 Author’s Declaration: I declare that the work in this dissertation was carried out in accordance with the requirements of the University's Regulations and Code of Practice for Research Degree Programmes and that it has not been submitted for any other academic award. Except where indicated by specific reference in the text, the work is the candidate's own work. Work done in collaboration with, or with the assistance of, others, is indicated as such. Any views expressed in the dissertation are those of the author. SIGNED: ................. DATE: 1st October 2019 5 6 Table of Contents Title: Boko Haram and the Discourse of Terrorism in Nigeria: Discourse, Politics and Hegemony 1 Abstract 3 Dedication and Acknowledgement: 4 Author’s Declaration: 5 Table of Contents 7 Chapter 1: Introduction 14 Foreign Policy: Nigeria and the United States 17 Defining Terrorism 20 Academic Debates 20 A Discourse Analytic Approach to Terrorism Studies 27 Research Problems, Motivations, Aims and Questions 31 Research Problems 31 Motivations 31 Aims and Questions 32 Thesis Structure 34 Conclusion 37 Chapter 2: Theory and Method: Laclau and Mouffe’s Discourse Theory 40 Introduction 40 7 The Case for Discourse Theory 40 Representation and Representational Practices 43 Articulation 44 Nodal Points 47 Equivalence and Difference 49 Interpellation and Subject Positions 50 Otherness 52 Selection of Texts and Collection of Data 57 Selection of Texts: The State Department, Defense Department and the Congress 57 Reasons for Focusing on the State Department, the Defense Department and the Congress 59 Selection of Texts: The National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Office of the Presidency 60 Reasons for Focusing on the National Assembly of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Office of the Presidency 61 Interview 62 Data Analysis 65 Conclusion 66 Chapter 3: Understanding Boko Haram 68 Introduction 68 8 The Emergence, Structure and Narratives of Boko Haram 72 Boko Haram and the Political Landscape in Nigeria 79 Boko Haram’s Proscription 83 Assessment by Juxtaposition and Pre-emption 85 Conclusion 87 Chapter 4: Literature Review: The Cold War, Decolonization and Political Violence in Africa 91 Introduction 91 Decolonization, Cold War and Political Violence in Africa 92 State Failure and Terrorism in Africa 96 Political Violence in Nigeria Pre-September 2001 101 Political Violence in Nigeria Post-September 2001 105 Conclusion 106 Chapter 5: Constructing the Terrorist Threat: From the Cold War to the Present 110 Introduction 110 Articulating Crisis of Africa: From the 1970s to 1980s 114 Articulating Crisis of State Failure: from the 1990s to early 2000s 120 Articulating Crisis of Terrorism: Post September 2001 123 Conclusion 126 Chapter 6: Constructing the U.S Self 129 9 Introduction 129 Background: The Uneasy Road of Expansionism: From Oil to Poverty and Health Issues 133 Constructing the U.S as the Subject of Democracy 142 Constructing the Hesitant Colonialist 147 Articulating the Impasse: Nigeria’s Leadership and America’s Colonial Trope 150 Conclusion 152 Chapter 7: Constructing Nigeria as a Counter Terrorist State 155 Introduction 155 The State as Counter terrorist State 159 Constructing the State as the Target of Terrorists 159 Constructing the Peaceful State that Counters Terrorism 164 The Transitioning of Boko Haram’s Violence as Terrorism 168 Constructing Boko Haram’s Violence as Crisis 168 Constructing Boko Haram’s violence as War 172 Constructing Peace as Absence of Boko Haram’s Terrorism 174 Conclusion 178 Chapter 8: The Terrorist Other 181 Introduction 181 Background: Legal Definitions 183 10 Self/Other Binaries and the Terrorism Discourse: Dichotomous Logic and Identity Construction 191 The Terrorist as Threat 193 Terrorism as a Negation 195 The Terrorists as Outsiders 206 Conclusion 208 Chapter 9: Conclusion 211 Introduction 211 Hegemony: Construction of the Threat of Terrorism in Africa/Nigeria 216 Representational Practices: Nigeria as a Counterterrorist State 221 Power and Politics: Representation of the U.S Self and the Terrorist Other 222 Limitation of Study and Recommendations for Further Research 225 Bibliography 228 Appendix 1: Table of Texts Selection 273 Appendix 2: Government Texts 282 Appendix 3: Interview Transcriptions 288 Interview 1 288 Interview 2 296 Interview 3 302 Interview 4 316 11 Interview 5 326 Interview 6 335 Interview 7 337 Interview 8 344 Interview 9 354 Appendix 4: Table of Interviews 362 Appendix 5: Consent Forms Error! Bookmark not defined. 12 13 Chapter 1: Introduction The events of September 2001 justified the ‘shift’ of the Global War on Terror/ism (henceforth GWOT) into Africa generally and Nigeria particularly. The discursive shift enabled the proscription of Boko Haram1 (and Ansaru2) by the Nigerian government as a terrorist organisation on June 4, 20133, followed by the Home Office on July 12, 2013 and the White House on November 13, 2013. As a moment, the shift of the GWOT into Africa highlights some continuities and change in the U.S-Nigeria policy narratives and draws heavily from earlier constructions and/or representations of Africa/Nigeria. The United States is particularly important to this thesis because the GWOT was not just championed by the U.S but the shift also bring to the fore the importance of Africa and particularly Nigeria to the U.S.