Discursive power in deliberations: A case of redevelopment for the creative economy in the Netherlands

Abstract

This paper examines the power of discourse in experiments with deliberative governance. It argues that discursive power enters deliberations regardless of the procedural attempts to ensure an optimal deliberative setting. This papers focuses on the experiences of a Community of Practice (CoP) that was created to redevelop old industrial sites for the creative economy in the Netherlands. To account for discursive power in these deliberations, it draws on the conceptual framework of “boundary work”. Boundary work involves drawing boundaries around discourse to gain credibility for an argument in a deliberation. This reinforces a discourse and reproduces its power. The empirical study demonstrates how actors relapsed into a dominant ‘entrepreneurship’ discourse but also disrupted it through an exploration of an alternative discourse called ‘cultural entrepreneurship’. This exploration was facilitated by deliberative procedures in combination with the content of boundary-transcending concepts.