Policy Discourse Analysis Research Articles

Revisiting inclusion in smart cities: infrastructural hybridization and the institutionalization of citizen participation in Bengaluru’s peripheries

ABSTRACT Smart city development can be traced back in the urban development trajectories of cities, as well as the respective articulations, framing and practices of ‘inclusive’ and ‘participatory’ smart cities. As smart city development steadily gains more and more traction among urban policy makers throughout the Global South, many scholars warn for its negative consequences on the accessibility of infrastructure and the processes that transform democratic citizenship practices. Rather than perceiving the transformative power of smart cities as a phenomenon particular to the use of new technologies, this paper aims to analyse societal segregation and marginalization through smart city development and traces these externalities as a continuation or intensification of existing governance practices. This is demonstrated by the case study on the metropolitan city of Bengaluru, that participates in India's national Smart City Mission. Due to massive urbanization, Bengaluru's peripheries are suffering from increasing pressures on its basic infrastructure. In response, state actors have turned to hybridizing the city's infrastructure facilities and governance to market- and civil society actors. Furthermore, the efforts of middle-class civil society groups that contribute to infrastructural governance through the assistance in planning, facilitation and controlling state responsibilities are institutionalized by bureaucratic state actors, at the cost of electoral governance by local representatives. This analysis on infrastructure governance in the peripheries has been set in relation to a discourse analysis of official policy documents on the inclusive and participatory character of smart cities. The practices of hybridization and institutionalization not only undermine the access to basic infrastructure for marginalized groups but also heavily underpin the design of Bengaluru's smart city projects. To be called inclusive, we argue that smart city projects should make an effort to improve the overall accessibilities of infrastructures for all classes and population groups.

New Discourses on Energy Transition as an Opportunity for Reconciliation? Analyzing Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Communications in Media and Policy Documents

This article examines energy issues articulated by Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada and analyzes the energy transition as a locus of reconciliation therein. Using content and discourse analysis of policy documents, white papers, and news media articles, we draw attention to reconciliation and energy discourses before and after 2015, the year that marked the release of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) report and the Paris Agreement on climate change. We find a three-fold expansion of those discourses, which encompass issues of inclusion and exclusion, dependency, and autonomy, as well as colonial representations of Indigenous people, after 2015. We also find that non-Indigenous voices are more prominent in those conversations. We suggest that the prospects of mutual benefits could turn the energy transition into an opportunity to bring together Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada.

Imagining the smart city through smart grids? Urban energy futures between technological experimentation and the imagined low-carbon city

Current imaginaries of urban smart grid technologies are painting attractive pictures of the kinds of energy futures that are desirable and attainable in cities. Making claims about the future city, the socio-technical imaginaries related to smart grid developments unfold the power to guide urban energy policymaking and implementation practices. This paper analyses how urban smart grid futures are being imagined and co-produced in the city of Berlin, Germany. It explores these imaginaries to show how the politics of Berlin’s urban energy transition are being driven by techno-optimistic visions of the city’s digital modernisation and its ambitions to become a ‘smart city’. The analysis is based on a discourse analysis of relevant urban policy and other documents, as well as interviews with key stakeholders from Berlin’s energy, ICT and urban development sectors, including key experts from three urban laboratories for smart grid development and implementation in the city. It identifies three dominant imaginaries that depict urban smart grid technologies as (a) environmental solution, (b) economic imperative and (c) exciting experimental challenge. The paper concludes that dominant imaginaries of smart grid technologies in the city are grounded in a techno-optimistic approach to urban development that are foreclosing more subtle alternatives or perhaps more radical change towards low-carbon energy systems.

Discourse of the Post-COVID 19 New Deal in South Korea.

In July 2020, the South Korean government announced a 5-year, post-pandemic plan. This purportedly proactive policy aimed to advance digital and green industries to lay the groundwork for the post-pandemic era. This article examines the South Korean government’s early proposal of a post-pandemic policy, titled the Korean New Deal, in order to explore how the pandemic crisis may affect the policymakers’ envisioning of the post-crisis society. Moreover, the study examines how this early predictive plan may reveal the ways in which the pandemic is utilized for discursive politics. Drawing on the critical discourse analysis of policy documents and news coverage, this article questions how the “old” language of the developmental state is incorporated into the “new” policy. The study also shows how COVID-19′s impacts and uncertainties are translated into political discourses.

Schooling (hetero)normative practices in the Islamic Republic of Iran

ABSTRACT Drawing on a critical discourse analysis of policy documents and textbooks, this paper contributes to the growing field of research on the role of schools and schooling with regards to the construction of gender and sexuality by focusing on school practices and educational spaces. We argue that the nation-state in the Islamic Republic of Iran is a religious biopolitical state and its official discourse in the realm of gender and sexuality relies on heteronormative as well as gender normative belief systems. School spaces are therefore constituted as strongly heteronormative, and non-heterosexuality is not recognised as a legitimate subject position. Through its everyday practices, the education system upholds the state’s ideology, by which the ideal/normal student is read as being heterosexual and cisgender, adhering to Islamic/state values, and constituted on the axis of strict gender binaries. Education about sexuality-gender diversity is therefore excluded and/or silenced. This paper aims to explore school discourses and practices in terms of gender and sexuality and how schools construct and regulate sexual and gender identities, with the aim of producing the ideal Islamic/Iranian subject.

Speaking social Europe: A paradigmatic shift in the European Commission Presidents’ social policy discourse?

This article presents an original analysis of the social policy discourse at the European Union level by focusing on the language used by European Commission Presidents when addressing social issues. Through an empirical analysis based on a semi-supervised machine learning approach, we consider the entire corpus of speeches made by Barroso and Juncker from 2010 to 2018 and we classify all sentences according to three possible variants of social policy language: social-retrenchment, social-investment and rights-based language. We argue that the focus on these languages allows us to understand whether the ‘fiscal consolidation discipline’ narrative, which dominated in the aftermath of the Great Recession, has been challenged over the years by the recourse to alternative ‘social policy images’. The results confirm a significant shift in the overall configuration of social policy discourse between Barroso and Juncker. This shift has been mainly characterized by an increase in the use of rights-based language and a decrease in the use of social-retrenchment language, which however has not been completely abandoned. Therefore, the recalibration of EC’s speeches on social policy has not been abrupt but has instead been incremental. The article concludes by discussing preliminary interpretations of the observed trends and their potential implications in terms of ‘discursive legacy’ in the post-pandemic era.

Beginning teachers in early childhood education: A critical discourse analysis of policies in Aotearoa New Zealand and the United States

The early phases of teachers’ professional careers are multi-layered and informed by many factors, including teachers’ values, their own experiences in schools, and the nested contexts of their professional employment. While in teachers’ everyday lives government policies sometimes operate beneath the surface rather than overtly, these policies influence many teachers’ experiences, contributing significantly to what critical discourse analysis scholars call the ‘issue’ of teachers’ available subjectivities being influenced by prevailing ideologies as they are newly entering the profession. In this analysis, we activate critical discourse analysis in order to offer new understandings about policies and contexts associated with new teachers entering the profession. Our analysis is significant in its co-consideration of policies from contexts that we see as experiencing the influence of neoliberal ideologies in different ways. As critical discourse analysis is transdisciplinary, it also offers chances to transcend boundaries of politics and culture to inquire into social wrongs as we actually experience them in a world that is globally connected and globally influenced. The significance of this analysis, then, lies with the continued questioning we hope that it, and others like it, make possible.

Intersectionality and climate policy-making: The inclusion of social difference by three Swedish government agencies

Climate change effects, views and approaches vary based on geographical location, class, gender, age and other climate related social factors. It is thus relevant to explore how various government bodies/authorities involved in dealing with climate change represent and act on social difference across diverse societies. This article performs a discourse analysis of climate policy documents from three Swedish government agencies: the Transport Administration, the Energy Agency, and the Environmental Protection Agency. This in order to explore how the different agencies represent social difference: what is made visible; what is obscured; what are the implications? We collected a purposive, collated sample of literature through online searches and personal communications with agency staff. We apply an intersectional approach to the sampled literature. The article finds that while each agency articulates an awareness of social difference, this tends to manifest in broad terms. It argues that this has the effect of obscuring differential climate impacts and effects of climate action, with potential environmental justice implications. Finally, the article concludes by proposing that incorporating intersectional approaches will support more effective, inclusive and equitable climate action, in Sweden and elsewhere.

Analysis of Implement-Criminal Policy Discourses to Control Drug Abuse

Analysis of Implement-Criminal Policy Discourses to Control Drug Abuse

A Critical Discourse Analysis of School-Based Behavioural Policies: Reconceptualizing Understandings of Responses to Student (Mis)Behaviours

Students who have been labeled as having “behaviour problems” in the school system have some of the worst academic and social outcomes of any student group. In most Canadian provinces, responses to students who misbehave are legislated through Safe Schools policies intended to guide districts and individual schools in responding to student misbehaviour. In this research project, we conducted a critical discourse analysis of Manitoba’s Safe and Caring Schools documentation in order to analyze the ways in which provincial policies construct school-based responses to behaviours. Based on our analysis, recommendations for policy-makers to better support studentsinclude revising policies to reflect reconceptualized views of children, non-deficit understandings of behaviour, and ethical responses to student behaviour.

Policy Mechanisms of the Standard Language Ideology in England’s Education System

ABSTRACT This article examines textual traces of the standard language ideology within current education policy in England, focusing on post-2010 reforms which are characterised by a (re)shift towards conservatism, discipline, and standards. Using tools and methods from critical stylistics and the critical discourse analysis of language policy, I interrogate a number of mechanisms which textually reinforce and reproduce the standard language ideology: curriculum documents, assessment instruments, national test materials and guidance for teachers. Whilst previous criticisms of current policy have focused on individual policy mechanisms, in this article I examine these mechanisms as a cluster, showing how they work together as de facto language policy. I show how teachers are presented with a de-historicised and de-politicised version of standardised English which masks the structural power relations that are embedded in language, and how they are constructed as standard language role-models who have a professional duty to reproduce the standard language ideology.

Sport, social inclusion and the logic of assimilation in Prato (Italy)

In this article we discuss the extent to which sport might effectively encourage processes of integration and civic participation in Prato, one of the most multicultural cities in Italy. A discourse analysis of recent policies that aim to foster social inclusion of migrants and their children through sport in the city and in the broader region of Tuscany is conducted in the first half of the article; this is followed by the analysis of qualitative interviews and focus groups with city councillors, sport operators and educators. Framed by theories of transculturation, we argue that sport may provide great opportunities for intercultural communication and transcultural socialization – mostly in its informal manifestations and in some of the more progressive and innovative public initiatives carried out in the city. Yet we also suggest that processes of social inclusion through sport promoted at a policy level are often hindered ‘on the ground’ by assimilationist attitudes and practices.

Can anti-illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing trade measures spread internationally? Case study of Australia

The emergence of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing as a policy issue over the past two decades has galvanised efforts to advance the regulation of high seas fishing to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of fishery resources. This process enabled the introduction of environmental provisions into international trade under the guise of ensuring the lawful sourcing of seafood. This has proven more acceptable to the trade regime than bans on unsustainably harvested seafood. The European Union and the United States have led the establishment of legality as a proxy for different environmental and social accountability concerns and have implemented unilateral trade measures to prevent seafood sourced from IUU fishing from entering their markets through traceability schemes. Although the EU and US are huge markets, the ultimate success of such measures in reducing IUU fishing lies in their take up in other countries and the potential for harmonisation at the supra-state level. This research has explored the potential for implementation of anti-IUU trade measures in Australia through discourse analysis of semi-structured interviews and public policy documents. Our findings show that there is very limited potential for anti-IUU fishing trade measures in Australia due to socio-specific constructions of IUU and of fisheries management. These findings are relevant for the potential policy diffusion of anti-IUU trade measures in market states.

Kultura u spoljnim odnosima Evropske Unije - ka novoj paradigmi kulturne diplomatije?

In the past few years, cultural diplomacy has become important among the priorities of European Union (EU) policies. In that political vision, European cultural relations should be based on transnational interactions between two or more cultures, be equal, unprojective and non-coercive, and guided by mutual cooperation of state and non-state actors. The paper examines the development of the European Union's (EU) cultural diplomacy agenda, from "culture in external relations" to "inclusive cultural relations" and the "new spirit of dialogue" as a political narrative and institutional logic, laying the foundations for contemporary priorities of European foreign cultural policy, its instruments and programs. The theoretical and empirical framework of the analysis is set by considering the dichotomies of discourse and political rhetoric surrounding EU cultural diplomacy. The methodology of the work is based on an analysis of the EU public policy discourse and documents, initiatives, contents and announcements related to cultural diplomacy and foreign cultural policy, in order to see their development phases, concepts and scope of activities for improving international cultural relations. In defining and interpreting the current European "narrative" and the paradigm of cultural diplomacy, the paper starts from the multiperspectival theoretical foundation of cultural diplomacy and related concepts. The analysis shows how the EU's decade-long effort to shape its foreign policy and cultural strategy has gained its explicit expression from the implicit one. At several stages of development, the EU has adopted a new model of cultural diplomacy that combines elements of several definitions - and theoretical frameworks - of public diplomacy and soft power, cultural policy, international cultural relations and cultural cooperation. This integrated EU strategic approach is based on a broad definition of culture, intercultural dialogue and cooperation, and a bottom-up approach. In order to balance the soft power projection dimension in EU cultural diplomacy policy and practice, it would be necessary to persist in advocating for a cultural perspective that would focus on collaborative approaches and field processes generated by cultural diplomacy projects and actors. It would essentially be an incentive for a "new spirit of dialogue" both between member states and with third countries that are on the European path.

Does New Urbanism “Just Show Up”? Deliberate Process and the Evolving Plan for Markham Centre

This article traces three decades of planning for a Canadian suburban downtown in Markham, Ontario, an early adopter of new urbanism. While leading new urbanist design firm Duany Plater-Zyberk & Co. (also known as DPZ) produced site plans for both Cornell and Markham Centre, much of the research attention on the implementation of new urbanism has focused on the Cornell development, where build-out began in the 1990s. Construction was delayed in Markham Centre until a decade later and continues today. The article is empirically grounded in a discourse analysis of policy, housing advertisements, and interviews with key actors in the planning and development process. New urbanism’s popular influence has led Fulton (2017) to argue that a ubiquitous urbanism now “just shows up.” Mainstreaming of new urbanist principles and the discursive framing of planning for Markham Centre as an ‘evolution’ further underscores this perception. Key actors describe an ‘organic’ planning process illustrating how the plan has changed in response to shifting market dynamics, political interests, and funding opportunities. The article explores the discourse about new urbanism and argues that in Markham Centre new urbanism has not just shown up, but has rather required a deliberate, collaborative, and adaptable process. Development that is transit oriented and attractive to knowledge economy workers underpins the contemporary vision. New urbanism as a label is losing relevance in Markham, where sprawl represents the past, new urbanism describes the legacy of 1990s planning, and a ‘real’ competitive urbanism is the vision for the future.

From discourses about language-in-education policy to language practices in the classroom\u2014a linguistic ethnographic study of a multi-scalar nature in Timor-Leste

This article makes the case for conducting ethnographic research of a multi-scalar nature that links language policy processes and ideologies of language with everyday practices, on the ground, in local schools and classrooms. As with other researchers engaged in the ethnography of language policy (e.g. McCarty, 2011; Johnson, 2013), my concern is with the ways in which language policies in multilingual countries are translated into classroom practice, the ways teachers and school administrators understand and respond to policy changes and the ways in which communication between teachers and learners is shaped by the introduction of a new medium of instruction. The research presented here focuses on language policy and classroom practice in Timor-Leste. On Independence in 2002, Tetum and Portuguese were chosen to be the two official languages of the country and the main languages of teaching and learning in the school system. My main research sites have been primary schools and classrooms in Timor-Leste and I have adopted a linguistic ethnographic approach, combining ethnography with close analysis of classroom discourse and with discourse analysis of policy documents and interviews. I have used the concept of language ideology as an analytical lens in examining the language policy discourses of policymakers and teachers. Teachers in Timor-Leste are regarded by policymakers as the mere facilitators of the process of implementing Tetum and Portuguese language-in-education policy within the education system. Through the analysis of interview data presented here, I show that teachers assumed this role and shared the belief that Tetum and Portuguese were legitimate official languages of Timor-Leste. Then, through analysis of codeswitching in classroom interaction, in one Year 6 classroom, I show how values around Tetum and Portuguese were being discursively constructed by the teacher, particularly in talk around monolingual texts in Portuguese.

An Ethnolinguistic conflict on the compulsory learning of the state languages in the republics of Russia: policies and discourses

ABSTRACT Until recently, not only students of the titular nationalities (ethnicities) learned their native language but also ethnic Russians and other nationalities in some ethnic republics of Russia had to learn titular state languages of those republics. The political campaign in Russia against the compulsory teaching of state languages of republics started two years ago and culminated in the adoption of the amendment to the Russian education law on 3 August 2018. The law enacted some additional mechanisms to ensure the voluntary study of non-Russian languages. The law adoption signified the escalation of the conflict around linguistic rights and the compulsory study of state language. The problem is that the official discources typically overshadow the discourses of individuals and non-govenrmental ogranization who have their own language attitudes and agendas, which distorts the depiction of the conflict. In this paper, we will study official and public discourses together, combining the ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ perspectives, in order to explore both the language policy and language ideologies, and, thus, to provide a multifaceted picture of the conflict. We use policy analysis and discourse analysis to study official documents, surveys, mass media, social media discussions.

Constructing the ethical active older subject: a Foucauldian discourse analysis of active ageing policies in Copenhagen, Denmark

ABSTRACT ‘Active Ageing’ is a dominant discourse in the promotion of active lifestyles for older adults. Its emphasis upon adoption of a positive mind-set and ‘good’ lifestyle choices has resulted in active ageing policies becoming associated with ‘neoliberal’ tendencies. Conversely, we suggest the tendency to equate active ageing policy with a totalising concept of ‘neoliberalism’ can obscure interpretational nuance. We conducted Foucauldian Discourse Analysis upon 31 policy documents outlining provision of active ageing services in Copenhagen Municipality, Denmark, traditionally a communitarian policy environment. Both textual and visual data were analysed. Focus was made upon the construction of active ageing as an object of policy, and subsequent discursive constructions of the active ageing subject. The application of ‘active ageing’ created several contradictions in this policy environment. Services were promoted as ‘open to all,’ yet Municipal support was discursively constructed as an imperative of care for the most needful. Personal choice was promoted, yet meaningfulness and freedom was situated in the community, and shared-ownership, active citizenship and voluntarism were emphasised. The older subject was discursively constructed as an ethical, responsible, self-sufficient and active citizen who was both a producer and consumer of active ageing programmes. Such subjects were imagined to inhabit localised communities of primarily white, slim, non-disabled, visibly happy and healthy over-65 year olds. Hence, whilst empowerment and programme flexibility were promoted, the conceptualisation of a homogenous ‘elderly’ community appeared less conducive to respect for diversity, promoting cross-generational cooperation and maximising the ‘preventative’ potential of active ageing programmes.

Negotiating privileged networks and exclusive mobilities: the case for a Deaf festival in Scotland’s festival city

ABSTRACT We explore the case for a Deaf festival in Edinburgh, the self-proclaimed ‘world leading Festival City’. The formal recognition of British Sign Language in the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015 is paramount to the cultural and political context. Joining English and Gaelic in Scotland’s linguistic landscape, BSL legally summons cultural representation in public life. We approach the study through two distinct methodologies. Firstly, we adopt a discourse analysis of the festival policy that constructs Edinburgh’s festival networks and prioritizes distinct mobilities. Secondly, we draw upon a participative debate the authors organized as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019. The paper contributes to the critical examination of festivals as sites of diversity and inclusivity, both at the point of production and consumption. In doing so, we suggest that greater representation of Deaf and disabled communities in festival networks is a pre-requisite to festivals as inclusive public spaces.

Mot en ny satsing på flerspråklighet – en analyse av språkpolitiske føringer i barnehagens styringsdokumenter

In this article, we discuss how language policy for multilingualism in Norwegian early childhood education has changed during the last 30 years. Drawing on discourse analysis of central official policy documents from different time periods, we discuss the change towards a monolingual language policy. Our analysis shows controversies and inconsistencies in the policy. As we critically question this development, we also discuss the opportunities the current early childhood curriculum opens for supporting multilingual children and connect it to recent research on superdiversity and dynamic and flexible multilingualism.