The Birth of Strategic Actors: From Primary to Secondary Temporality

Abstract

This paper analyses the emergence of European universities as strategic actors from a temporal perspective. I argue, in line with the literature, that European universities have moved from being institutions to being organisations and, more precisely, organisational actors. I depart from the literature in arguing that this change also has a considerable temporal dimension that has up to now been neglected. The temporal dimension consists in a move from primary temporality, i.e., the making of time, to secondary temporality, i.e., the using of time. In making this argument the paper also responds to calls in the literature to take time more seriously for it shows how temporality constitutes strategic actors, rather than how already established strategic actors use time as a resource.