Discursive Institutionalism Research Articles

Outsourcing education services in South Korea, England and Hong Kong: a discursive institutionalist analysis

ABSTRACT The outsourcing of education services has been widely adopted across international contexts as a ‘tested solution’ or panacea to meet various educational problems including school management, curriculum design, teaching and student discipline. Contracting third-party providers, it is argued, enhances organisational goals such as efficiency, quality and school improvement. However, the outsourcing of education services has also impacted on established notions concerning the boundaries around teachers’ work. This paper deploys the framework of discursive institutionalism to offer insight into how the idea of outsourcing has been activated and circulated by discursive communities in three diverse international settings. Despite its problem-solution logic, the institutionalisation of outsourcing creates its own problems, not least the undermining of teacher professionalism, the ‘businessification’ of schools and a diminishing of their educational mission.

Introducing managerialism into national educational contexts through pseudo-conflict: A discursive institutionalist analysis

This article provides a fresh perspective on the introduction of global ideas, particularly managerialism, into national educational settings, based on insights of the discursive institutionalism approach. We argue that this introduction may occur as various policy actors promote different versions of managerialism, leading to a debate between education policy actors holding common managerialist assumptions and beliefs, in other words, a pseudo-conflict. The result is a conflict over education policy that is strictly bounded by shared assumptions and beliefs. We analyze the discourse of leading policy actors during two consecutive tenures of Israeli Education Ministers (2009–2013, 2013–2015), using parliamentary protocols and press interviews.

The institutional work of creating and implementing Social Impact Bonds

Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) are a new and increasingly popular public policy tool which link payments to outcomes thus, in theory, transferring risk from governments to private investors. This paper draws on the concepts of institutional work and discursive institutionalism to analyse how a SIB influenced the rules, norms and decisions of key actors. It identifies two dominant discourses. One focused on addressing the social determinants of health, the other on creating the financial structure needed to run a SIB. These discourses were congruent at a macro-policy level, but tensions emerged between them at the meso and micro levels. This exemplifies the interdependence of structure and agency in institutional work and the mediating role which discourse plays. It also suggests that the effectiveness of a SIB depends not just on whether it achieves its outcome targets but also on whether it can institute new sets of practices and thinking.

The Politics of Economic LiberalizationWueest, BrunoCham, Palgrave Macmillan (2018), 169 p., ISBN 978‐3‐319‐62321‐4

The Politics of Economic LiberalizationWueest, BrunoCham, Palgrave Macmillan (2018), 169 p., ISBN 978‐3‐319‐62321‐4

Foreground Liberalism, Background Nationalism: A Discursive‐institutionalist Account of EU Leverage and ‘Democratic Backsliding’ in East Central Europe

AbstractThis article argues for a fresh approach to debates on democratic backsliding and European Union (EU) influence in East Central Europe (ECE), drawing on the discursive institutionalism of Vivien Schmidt. Underlying assumptions about backsliding in CEE largely reflect a set of ideas derived from the rational institutionalist and historical institutionalist schools. Moreover, the same theoretical assumptions were previously deployed to explain the apparent success of democratization and EU leverage in CEE. A discursive institutionalism perspective, stressing the role of actors and their discourses in making and unmaking institutions, suggests that democracy in CEE was always less secure than assumed. It also highlights the key role of liberal mainstream parties in embodying democratic institutions. Case studies of the liberal centre‐right in Bulgaria and social democrats in the Czech Republic highlight the way background ideas of ethnically exclusive titular states have increasingly impinged on foreground ideas of liberal pluralism.

Framing Solidarity in the Euro Crisis: A Comparison of the German and Irish Media Discourse

ABSTRACT The article analyses the framing of solidarity in the Euro crisis discourse. Previous research has argued that the Euro crisis and the debtor–creditor constellation highlights the political conflict around solidarity in the EU. Based on a discursive institutionalist framework, the article investigates the different meanings of solidarity as well as the constellation of actors in Germany and Ireland from 2010 to 2015. Whilst Germany as the biggest creditor country is understood as a potential giver of solidarity, Ireland as a debtor country is conceptualised as a potential receiver of solidarity. The discourse network methodology is applied to study the relation of framing and actor presence. The findings show that the ideational structure of both discourses is different, but the actor constellation is rather similar. In particular, solidarity and austerity are linked in the German discourse, while the Irish discourse focuses predominantly on responsibility and solidarity, and less so on austerity. The actor constellation shows a dominance of German actors in both countries, highlighting the central position of Germany within the Eurozone. The article is the first study to analyse the construction of solidarity in the Euro crisis and contributes to the study of solidarity in hard times.

Theorizing CSR Reporting: A Discursive Institutionalism Framework

Although CSR reporting is a well-established business practice now, it is still an emerging genre that lacks convergence and standardization. Different theoretical perspectives are used to study CSR reporting. These perspectives agree on the instrumental nature of CSR reporting, while they vary in the aspects of the practice they emphasize and in their normative assumptions. Using ‘Discursive Institutionalism’ as a theoretical lens, different practices in the field can be incorporated in the proposed framework to reach a comprehensive understanding of CSR reporting phenomenon. The paper aims to propose a theoretical framework for CSR reporting research that enables a holistic and comprehensive explanation that is inclusive of different practices and normative assumptions in the field. The proposed framework utilizes new developments in Institutional Theory that emphasize multiple institutional logics, the hybridity of social practices, the role of social agents, and the discursive aspect of institutions. The proposed theoretical framework adds a new comprehensive perspective to CSR reporting research. It provides a solid theoretical base for further investigation of different practices in the field.

The Critical Juncture Concept’s Evolving Capacity to Explain Policy Change

This article examines the evolution of our understanding of the critical junctures concept. The concept finds its origins in historical intuitionalism, being employed in the context of path dependence to account for sudden and jarring institutional or policy changes. We argue that the concept and the literature surrounding it—now incorporating ideas, discourse, and agency—have gradually become more comprehensive and nuanced as historical institutionalism was followed by ideational historical institutionalism and constructivist and discursive institutionalism. The prime position of contingency has been supplanted by the role of ideas and agency in explaining critical junctures and other instances of less than transformative change. Consequently, the concept is now capable of providing more comprehensive explanations for policy change.

Ideas, coalitions and compromise: reinterpreting EU-ETS lobbying through discursive institutionalism

ABSTRACT Collective political action among divergent interest groups is not always easy. It requires coordination, compromise and, often, the persuasive action of a policy entrepreneur. Coalition strategies are often shaped by participants’ skill in mobilising ideas. Business-environmental coalitions – often considered ‘strange bedfellows’ – have proved to be important in emissions trading policy-making. In 2013, chronically low emissions prices meant that the EU’s climate policy flagship, the EU-ETS, was holed beneath the waterline. But, within two years and against the odds, ambitious reforms were agreed to steady the ship. Crucial to the rescue were the actions of a pro-ETS business lobby, orchestrated by environmentalists. We draw on thirty-two in-depth interviews to construct a discursive institutionalist account of collective interest representation in relation to the reforms. We highlight the ability of policy entrepreneurs to fashion a ‘change-but-no-change’ pro-reform narrative attractive to businesses, despite the fact that such discursive strategies risked marginalising alternative and more disruptive ideas.

The discourse of institutional change in the Zambian microfinance sector

ABSTRACTThis paper investigates the discourse of key actors instigating institutional change in the Zambian microfinance sector. It draws from the institutional story of Zambia, which has experienced regulatory and legislative flux since drafting its first microfinance act in 2006. Building on the ideas of discursive institutionalism and interviews with key stakeholders, it identifies three levels of discourse (ideas) that explain institutional change: policy, programmatic and philosophical. It highlights how ill-conceived discourse at a policy level shapes practices of microfinance institutions (MFIs) and ultimately challenge their worldviews, offering a cautious tale of institutional change in Zambia. More broadly, it discusses the implications of using discourse to understand institutional change in sub-Saharan Africa and offers an opposing cautious narrative to many of the successful microfinance stories on the continent which tend to dominate the literature.

Curriculum Reform as a Political Statement in Developing Contexts:: A Discursive and Non-affirmative Approach

While not an entire global phenomenon, competency-based curricula have gained relevance and presence, primarily as a policy promoted by the European Commission with the European context. Kosovo – a non EU-state – shifted its curriculum from content-based to competency-based in its latest 2011 curriculum reform. This article focused on the opportunities that Kosovo students have to master learning competencies considering coverage of this specific competency within the main Kosovo’s Curriculum Framework, mathematics teacher education programmes, and grade 6 and grade 10 mathematics syllabi. Relying on document analysis methodologically and discursive institutionalism and non-affirmative theory theoretically, the analysis and findings show that learning competencies are central in the Kosovo’s new curricula, defined as one of the six key competencies to be mastered by students over their pre-university education from grade 1 to 12. Regarding teacher education programmes, findings show that BA degree for mathematics still relies in strong disciplinary knowledge, while the MA degree has been updated to reflect the latest reform. Grades 6 and Grade 10 mathematics syllabi are fully in line with KCF. Strong coordinative and communicative discourses have been at play to create the conditions for the shift from content- to competency-based curricula, while competency-based approach in itself is both an affirmative process, since curricula and learning outcomes are clearly defined from a top-down approach, and non-affirmative enough to allow for opportunities for students to obtain an open and critical outlook for themselves and democratic society – now and in the future.

Social Construction of Nuclear Risks: Analysis of Institutional Communicative Discourses on Astravets Nuclear Power Plant

The paper is located within scholarly fields of risk sociology and nuclear risk communication. It employs the Belarusian Astravets Nuclear Power Plant (BelNPP) case to show how political entities discursively construct the understanding of nuclear risks. The BelNPP is an important case in a broader European region, and especially – for Belarus and Lithuania, due to its debated safety and impacts. The analysis of political institutional communicative discourses, as taking place in the national governments and parliaments in Belarus and Lithuania, was performed as part of the master thesis research. The empirical basis consisted of 132 texts, published during 2012–2017 and defined as official institutional press releases. The theoretical explanatory model included theories of discursive institutionalism, agenda-setting and issue-framing. The results show that the discourse is dominated by the ‘safety’ topic. The Belarusian discourse more frequently communicates BelNPP in a detailed technical manner and dominant frames attenuate the associated risks. The Lithuanian discourse focuses on political aspects and uses issue frames that amplify the socially constructed risk.

The European Union as a Trigger of Discursive Change: The Impact of the Structural Deficit Rule in Estonia and Latvia

Abstract Our paper explores how a rule prescribed by the European Union can bring about changes in the policy discourse of a member state. Drawing on the literatures of discursive institutionalism and Europeanization, the theoretical part discusses the factors that influence discursive shifts. The empirical part examines the discursive impacts of the introduction of the structural budget deficit rule, required by the Fiscal Compact, in Estonia and Latvia. It demonstrates how the discursive shifts have been shaped by the localized translations offered by civil servants, the entrance of additional actors to the policy-making arena, crisis experience, and the strategic interests of policy actors.

Rethinking strategic culture: A computational (social science) discursive-institutionalist approach

ABSTRACT The strategic culture approach has been suffering from a prolonged theoretical stalemate, despite a surge in case studies, which culminated in the Johnston-Gray debate and subsequent schism. The present paper outlines a new approach designed to overcome this deadlock, and consists of three arguments. First, the three previous generations of strategic culture studies have failed to explain how strategic culture influences behaviour. Second, aligning strategic culture theory-building with discursive institutionalism offers a way to overcome this fundamental fallacy. Third, a research programme for strategic culture should draw on computational social science to enable it to present and test middle-range theories.

Poststructuralist discourse theory as an independent paradigm for studying institutions: Towards a new definition of ‘discursive construction’ in institutional analysis

Poststructuralist discourse theory (DT) is enjoying increasing recognition for its potential to contribute to the study of institutional change and continuity. Yet the most fruitful approach to realizing this potential has hitherto not been found. The main proposition so far has been to operationalize DT’s insights and concepts by adopting them into the framework of discursive institutionalism (DI). However, an ongoing debate about the compatibility of the ontologies underlying DT and DI has cast doubts over whether such a combination is theoretically feasible. The critical literature review in the first part of this article indeed finds insurmountable ontological differences between the discourse-theoretical and the discursive-institutionalist traditions, as their clashing notions of what is understood as a ‘discourse’ result in diverging views on power, agency, and subjectivity. Instead of merging DT into DI, I suggest to empower the former as a self-sufficient paradigm for institutional analysis. To achieve this, the second part of this article re-articulates the ‘logics framework’ proposed by Jason Glynos and David Howarth (2007) into a middle-range theory for the study of institutionalization and politicization in a discourse-theoretical fashion. The purpose of this re-articulation is to dispel various arguments against the viability of an autonomous poststructuralist approach to institutions.

Non-affirmative Education Theory and Discursive Institutionalism as Possibilities for Curriculum Research: Foreword to a Special Issue

Non-affirmative Education Theory and Discursive Institutionalism as Possibilities for Curriculum Research: Foreword to a Special Issue

Institutional harmonization for spatial integration of renewable energy: Developing an analytical approach

This paper develops an analytical approach to explore institutional barriers to spatial integration between renewable energy (RE) and other land use functions and provides insight into opportunities for institutional harmonization between involved policy domains. Spatial integration of RE with other land use functions provides opportunities to use limited amounts of space more efficiently, allowing for a more fluent roll-out of renewable technologies. However, such integration requires the involvement of various policy domains that are each guided by specific institutional frameworks, which are often tailored to specific sectoral needs. Therefore, spatial integration of RE and other land use functions requires institutional harmonization between involved policy domains. However, there is limited guidance in literature on how such harmonization does or could occur. Moreover, while literature on RE recognizes the merits of institutional approaches, it focuses on institutions as the formal rules of the game, often disregarding the agency component (the ‘play of the game’). The analytical approach developed in this paper combines the Institutional Analysis and Development framework with insights from Discursive Institutionalism. The approach enables structured assessment of relationships within and between established institutions (the ‘rules of the game’) and actors' ideas, interpretations and deliberations regarding these institutions (the ‘play of the game’), providing insight in processes of institutional harmonization. This analytical approach is applied to the case of spatial integration of photovoltaics with national transport infrastructure networks in the Netherlands. The findings from the case show that (1) insight in interrelations between institutional barriers is crucial for addressing institutional harmonization; (2) institutional harmonization within policy domains is a precondition for harmonization between policy domains; and (3) the agency component (play of the game) is key to successful harmonization. In conclusion, the analytical approach provides insight into the co-evolution between the rules of the game and the play of the game, which is pivotal to institutional harmonization.

Redistribution in an Age of Neoliberalism: Market Economics, ‘Poverty Knowledge’, and the Growth of Working-Age Benefits in Britain, c. 1979–2010

The expansion of cash benefits to low-paid workers has been one of the most significant developments in recent UK public policy. Since 1979, transfer payments to working-age households have trebled in real terms, helping to offset increases in wage inequality. Adopting a discursive institutionalist approach, this article argues that the growth of transfer payments partly reflects the influence of what John Kay has called ‘Redistributive Market Liberalism’ – the belief that poverty and inequality are best alleviated through income transfers outside the market. Although its roots can be traced back to the 1940s, Redistributive Market Liberalism came to the fore after 1979 in the context of a reaction against trade union power and renewed confidence in neoclassical microeconomics, and reached its apogee in New Labour’s child poverty strategy. The 2008 financial crisis, however, appears to have disrupted the ascendancy of this free-market philosophy and prompted a return to more interventionist forms of distributional politics.

Social enterprise and policy discourse: a comparative analysis of the United Kingdom and Australia

This article analyses social enterprise policy in the United Kingdom and Australia, comparing the different ideational strategies adopted by policymakers in each country. Drawing upon a unique policy dataset, it reveals that in the United Kingdom policymakers combined several ideas into a sophisticated narrative that sought to reflect sector growth and engage more deeply with the public. In comparison, Australian policy actors focused on a single idea, which underlined a more pragmatic approach to the utilisation of policy narratives. Through this analysis, the article makes a number of contributions. Empirically, it provides the first comparative examination of the interplay between ideas and rhetoric in the field of social enterprise policy. Theoretically, it demonstrates the utility of discursive institutionalism in the field of policy analysis, and develops its analytical leverage by identifying the different strategies available to policymakers.

Legitimation as justification: Foregrounding public philosophies in explanations of gradual ideational change

AbstractIn accounts of institutional change, discursive institutionalists point to the role of economic and political ideas in upending institutional stability and providing the raw material for the establishment of a new institutional setup. This approach has typically entailed a conceptualisation of ideas as coherent and monolithic and actors as almost automatically following the precepts of the ideas they hold and support. Recent theorising stresses how ideas are in fact composite and heterogeneous, and actors pragmatic and strategic in how they employ ideas in political struggles. However, this change of focus has, until recently, not included how foundational ideas of a polity, often referred to as ‘public philosophies’, are theorised to impact on institution‐building. Drawing on French Pragmatic Sociology, and taking as a starting point recent efforts within discursive institutionalism to conceptualise the dynamic nature of public philosophies, this article seeks to foreground moral justification in accounts of ideational and institutional change. It suggests that public philosophies are reflexively used by actors in continual processes of normative justification that may produce significant policy shifts over time. The empirical relevance of the argument is demonstrated through an analysis of gradual ideational and institutional change in French labour market policy, specifically the development from the state‐guaranteed minimum income scheme of 1988 to the neoliberal make‐work‐pay logic of the 2009 scheme,Revenu de solidarité active. The analysis shows that public and moral justifications have underpinned and gradually shaped these radical changes.