Government Discourse Research Articles

Decent work deficit in India: Deterioration and determinants

Abstract India is being projected internationally as a country of good growth and good governance, which in turn, it is asserted, should lead to prosperity for its people, especially in terms of proper employment, income, and overall standard of living. Drawing on certain dimensions of decent work proposed by International Labour Organization to measure the quality of employment in India, this article explores how far the notions of good/high growth and good governance discourse are corroborated by the evidence of good quality employment in India. The study is based on the nationally representative unit/individual-level data published by the Government of India during the three periods 2009–10, 2018–19, and 2022–23. The main findings of analysis are: (a) the overall quality of employment in India is poor and stagnant or deteriorating, and (b) the macro-level (sub-national state-level) aspects, such as the overall volume of economic activities, the extent of quality governance, the flexibility of business regulatory environment and better labour law-related compliance, have had a significant negative influence on the quality of employment. Thus, this paper suggests that the very policy environment and the pattern of economic growth have put a drag on the quality of employment in India. Given this, we suggest a variety of countervailing policy options and emphasise the role of civil society and politics.

An Analysis of the Religious Solidarity Discourses Regarding the Syrian Refugees in Türkiye

Following the outbreak of the civil war in Syria, a massive migration of Syrian nationals to Türkiye has been a significant phenomenon. This situation has become a problematic issue, as the massive presence of Syrian refugees in Türkiye has become an important part of the domestic political agenda. The politicization of the refugee issue has long since presented a duality of conflicting opinions among the Turkish society, whereas it has led to political debates between pro-government and opposition groups. In light of these developments, Turkish government elites have produced discourses of religious solidarity with the aim of providing tolerance and social acceptance for Syrian refugees and thus legitimizing the open door policy of the government toward these refugees. The aim of this study is to analyze and categorize the themes that constitute the basis of the discourses of religious solidarity regarding Syrian refugees in Türkiye. In this context, a second aim is to demonstrate how these themes have been welcomed in a positive manner by their adoption and recognition by Turkish society. To these aims, governmental discourses of religious solidarity and a sample consisting of 980 posts on the digital platform X have been analyzed by using the critical discourse analysis technique and have been categorized under two discursive themes, namely the ensar–muhacir analogy and the emphases on the Ottoman legacy. The conformity between these discourses and the government’s ideological orientation and the degree to which these discourses have been welcomed and adopted by the Turkish society have been discussed in detail.

Genealogies of (anti-)Blackness in the Maghreb: Africanity, Arabness, and the French colonial legacy

This essay starts with the unstable valence of the term “African” in governmental discourses and their media treatment in Morocco and Tunisia, which vacillate between a political and cultural solidarity on the one hand, and an oppositional stance on the other hand, whereby the “Arabness” of the Maghreb is posited as oppositional to the Blackness of Africa. The essay grapples with the competing historical and epistemic frames that attempt to explain this conflicting relation. The “colonialist thesis,” whereby the origin of the “tale of two Africas” is traced back to colonial racial schemes, posits pan-Africanism as an anti-imperialist political alliance, one that sought to transcend colonial categories of belonging between so-called “Arab” and Black Africa. However, if taken in isolation, a pan-African approach can also selectively sanitize the historical relation that the Maghreb entertains with the rest of the continent. The essay discusses the urgency of re-centering the precolonial Maghrebi history of the trans-Saharan slave trade, in order to fully comprehend the history of Black and North Africa, while being cautious with importing western concepts, and reinforcing orientalist notions of Islamic “tyranny.” Ultimately, taking Eugène Delacroix’s Femme d’Alger dans leur Appartement as a case study, it argues for an entangled legacy of prejudice , whereby trans-Saharan practices of slavery become palimpsestically reconfigured through the racial schemes of French coloniality. It invites a third mode of relationality, a critically reparative stance, one that posits the necessity of more fully implicating a global audience – a Maghrebi as well as a Western one – as having historically co-constituted the sociocultural and political frameworks through which racial prejudice is reproduced.

Immunity through technification? A critical review of water governance discourses in Tunisia

AbstractAfter Tunisia's independence from France in 1956, the country was engaged in what has been termed the “supply management policy”, that is, a maximum mobilization of water resources through large‐scale modern hydraulic infrastructure. Towards the beginning of the 1980s, the country entered a crisis and had to adopt in 1986, under pressure from the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, a “Structural Adjustment Program” (SAP) that prioritized measures to improve economic efficiency and liberalize the economy. Since then, Tunisian water policy has progressively shifted towards “Integrated Water Resources Management” (IWRM). This review critically analyzes the water governance discourses that have framed these policy interventions. I will draw on academic research and official and civil society reports to suggest that these discourses have been “rendered technical”, stripping issues of any political (and therefore conflicting) character. When rendered technical discourses raise development projects and policies above the terrain of political contestation, the possibilities of action available to those opposed to them become limited. This depoliticization of development interventions through technical discourses narrows the public space of democratic debate. I will also argue that the “technification” (rendering technical) process is reversible. Opposition groups can challenge technical discourses with a critical approach that can reconfigure and alter the trajectory of governmental programs. However, critical discourses can, in turn, be rendered technical.This article is categorized under: Human Water > Water Governance Human Water > Rights to Water

Taiwan democracy and the conceptualization of ideological security in Tsai administration’s discourse

Utilizing the theoretical lens of securitization and the Taiwan Democracy Ideology Securitisation conceptual framework (the TDIS), this article explains how the Tsai administration (Republic of China) transforms Taiwan democracy into the issue of security by conceptualizing Taiwan’s ideological security. In this study, I employ Tsai’s administration’s governmental discourses concerning the issues of democracy and national security to understand how political language and words support an interpretation of the social realities in which Taiwan democracy could be treated as a national security object.The findings show that the Tsai administration conceptualized ‘ideological security’ to bring the issue of democracy security to the public. The conceptualization was handled in three main ways: forming Taiwan democracy as a dominant political ideology; spiritualizing Taiwan democracy as a political asset and revolutionarily ‘hard-earned’ achievement; and shaping Taiwan’s ideological security. Furthermore, the paper quantitatively demonstrated that the majority of the Taiwanese public agreed with the government’s transforming Taiwan democracy into ideological security.

Rwandan Children 30 Years Post-Genocide in Jean Hatzfeld’s Blood Papa

2024 marks the 30th commemoration of the genocide in Rwanda. For the past 30 years, the nebulous figure of the “Rwandan child” has been ubiquitous in Rwandan governmental discourse, as well as in in most Western-oriented humanitarian campaigns. This essay explores the pervasive figure of the “Rwandan child” by focusing on children born during and post-genocide to genocide survivors and perpetrators, a category of Rwandan children that is of emerging research interest. Specifically, it investigates the representation of children in Jean Hatzfeld’s Blood Papa: Rwanda’s New Generation, originally published in French in 2015, which is the most widely available collection of testimonials by children of survivors and perpetrators of the 1994 genocide. This analysis focuses on these youth’s reflections on ethnic unity, historical memory, reconciliation and futurity – key concepts undergirding Rwanda’s national post-genocidal discourse of kwibuka twiyubaka, roughly translated as “Let’s commemorate while we grow.” I argue that these youth adults’ reflections on these seminal issues both put into question Rwandan national discourse and also reveal thought-provoking insights on conditions in Rwanda post-genocide, just as another generation of Rwandan children rises to the fore.

Under the ESG Dome of China

Implementing ESG is crucial for China’s modernization journey and corporate sustainability. To deeply understand the current standing of ESG in China, this study leverages online data richness using text mining techniques, specifically Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and ego network analysis. LDA is utilized to identify prevalent discussion topics on ESG, while ego network analysis is applied to examine the relationships and influences among key stakeholders. The scientific aim of this research is to identify prevalent ESG discussion topics, examine the relationships and influences among stakeholders, and determine core ESG focus areas on Chinese society. The findings highlight popular discussion topics such as ESG investment, the ESG notion, green finance transformation, and ESG rating. These topics underscore China’s growing concern for environmental protection and social responsibility. The core discussion areas focus on sustainable development, company social responsibility, and eco-friendliness, framing harmonized progress across economic, social, and environmental realms. Interestingly, governance discourse is sparse; the reasons are analyzed. Through the analysis of online discussions on China’s ESG, this study aims to enhance policymakers’ and participants’ understanding of the true status of China’s ESG, being of practical significance for policy formulation and appropriate ESG strategies.

Institutional Framework and Governance of the Water Sector and the Implication on Service Delivery

Water governance discourses usually state that “water crisis is a crisis of governance”. Improving governance is thus critical in ensuring water security. This study examines water sector governance and institutional framework's impact on service delivery. It employs a qualitative approach with Klang Valley, Selangor as the case study. Policy actors from federal and state governments are interviewed for primary data. Secondary data includes documents and archival records. The findings show that water service delivery was hampered by unclear jurisdiction, conflicting priorities, financial constraints, and the absence of political will. These findings imply that overcoming these challenges can be the basis for improving water service delivery system.

Analysis of Potential, Impact and Design of a Sustainable Ecotourism Management System Using an Industrial Engineering Approach in The Kuala Bubon Mangrove Forest, West Aceh

The discourse of the West Aceh government and the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, which aims to develop the Kuala Bubon West Aceh mangrove forest area into an ecotourism site to boost the community's economy, has drawn attention from many parties. This is due to the rich biodiversity present in the mangrove forest. Pre-ecotourism studies need to be conducted to ensure that the use of this forest can be managed properly, including studying potential tourist attractions, analyzing negative impacts, and engineering a sustainable ecotourism management industry. This involves using an industrial engineering approach, which offers an optimal framework for achieving these goals. The research was conducted in the Kuala Bubon mangrove forest, West Aceh, in July 2024. Survey techniques and direct observation were used to gather data on the ecotourism potential in the Kuala Bubon mangrove forest. This potential data will be mapped using Quantum GIS and then analyzed to assess the potential and impact of environmental damage as part of ecotourism and the ecosystem. The impact of the damage will then be addressed with alternative industrial engineering solutions, creating an effective management design using AutoCAD. The research results identified five ecotourism attraction points: sunset observation ecotourism, flora & fauna exploration, fishing, duck games, and shellfish searching. Based on this potential, a negative impact analysis and industrial engineering of the ecotourism area will be conducted, focusing on three aspects: infrastructure, waste management, and the utilization of renewable energy.Type your abstract here.

‘This is NOT human services’: Counter-mapping automated decision-making in social services in Australia

This paper offers a counter-map of automation in social services decision-making in Australia. It aims to amplify alternative discourses that are often obscured by power inequalities and disadvantage. Redden (2005) has used counter-mapping to frame an analysis of big data in government in Canada, contrasting with ‘dominant outward facing government discourses about big data applications’ to focus on how data practices are both socially shaped and shaping. This paper reports on a counter-mapping project undertaken in Australia using a mixed methods approach incorporating document analysis, interviews and web scraping to amplify divergent discourses about automated decision-making. It demonstrates that when the focus of analysis moves beyond dominant discourses of neoliberal efficiency, cost cutting, accuracy and industriousness, alternative discourses of service users’ experiences of automated decision-making as oppressive, harmful, punitive and inhuman(e) can be located.

Resilience policies in China: an analysis of central-level policies

ABSTRACT In response to global compound risks, resilience has been incorporated into China’s national governance discourse. This paper presents a quantitative analysis of 88 central-level policies building resilience capacity in China, to refine policy design to address complex risks more effectively. A comprehensive two-dimensional “policy tool-application field” analysis framework is developed based on policy tool theory and employs bibliometrics and content analysis methods. By extracting 210 policy analysis units corresponding to 289 coding reference points, we unveil the structural characteristics, policy themes, and distribution of policy tools on resilience building at the central level. Results show a notable upward trend in policy publication, forming a multi-agency policy-making network. We observe an imbalance in the structure of policy tools, with a strong reliance on environment-based policy tools. Policy tools are configured across all application fields. Supply-based policy tools are primarily applied for environmental and technological resilience, while demand-based tools find greater utilization in economic and organizational resilience dimensions. However, there is a neglect of social resilience. This paper recommends integrating policy tools to bolster resilience in diverse fields, and how to assess risks and their dynamic adjustments in resilience building as a significant direction in the future.

The World Is Grateful to China: Chinese Government Discourse During COVID-19

ABSTRACT In China, gratitude has often been promoted through political discourse, particularly to the Chinese Communist Party and its leaders. Traditionally, this discourse has focused on Chinese citizens’ gratitude. But this has changed recently. This article applies summative content analysis to examine discourses of gratitude promoted by the Party during the COVID-19 pandemic. As it shows, the Party has emphasized three discourses to promote gratitude in relation to its COVID-19 policies and otherwise serve its interests: (1) gratitude of international entities to China, (2) gratitude of China to the international community, and (3) gratitude of Chinese people to the party. This reflects a shift of emphasis from valuing domestic gratitude to recognizing international gratitude of people and groups toward China. After reporting on these findings, the article discusses the rationales for this shift and its implications.

A tale of two memberships: analysing post-2004 official governmental discourse on the EU in Czechia and Slovakia

ABSTRACT Despite their similar contexts, the Czech and Slovak memberships in the EU have developed in fundamentally different ways. Whilst Czechia has cast itself as a somewhat half-hearted, reluctant EU member state, Slovakia’s approach to the union has been more positive, with enthusiasm for deepening integration with the EU. Our analysis reveals that, despite some similarities, these differences also pertain to the patterns of discursive legitimisation of the EU within the official Czech and Slovak governmental discourses, underscoring the complexity and multifaceted nature of these processes in post-communist contexts. Working with a comprehensive dataset of official Czech and Slovak government documents, we investigate how, and interpret the ways in which, the EU has been discursively legitimised in the two countries between 2004 and 2023. To that end, we draw on insights from discursive institutionalism theory and adopt the general orientation of discourse historical analysis. We show that while the procedural legitimisation of the EU is a key element in the discursive practices of both the Czech and Slovak governments, the ideational dimension of legitimisation manifests especially within the Slovak discourse.

The United States as a ‘Pacific Nation’: Imaginary, Performance, and Spatialisation

ABSTRACT In 2012, then United States (US) Secretary of State Hilary Clinton attended the leaders’ meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum, the region’s pre-eminent politics and security-focused multilateral institution. At the meeting, Clinton remarked that: ‘I have said that the 21st century will be America’s Pacific century, with an emphasis on Pacific’, as the US is ‘a Pacific nation’. In this article, we analyse how, in the decade since, US government discourse has continued to narrate a social imaginary of the US as a ‘Pacific nation’ and to attempt to bring that imaginary into being through diplomatic performances and government policy. This has been driven by strategic concerns about the increasing activism of China in the Pacific Islands region and has sought to justify the US’s role, build its relationships, and exercise its power in the region. We argue that when the US is front stage and conscious of being observed, it narrates an imaginary of itself as a Pacific nation and performs that imaginary through its diplomatic performances and policy announcements. But the US’s back stage behaviour, including the non-implementation of policies and the spatialisation of the Pacific Islands region through efforts to discipline Pacific Island countries, build boundaries that exclude China, and emplace the US military presence, reveals its true intentions.

A ‘Romantic Public Tragedy’? COVID Pandemic and the Changes of Governance in Poland

The impact of pandemic governance on state regimes is a topic of lively debate. While some researchers suggest that governments may use a ‘state of exception’ to consolidate their power and introduce new methods of control, others see it as an opportunity for new civil society initiatives and social innovation. In this paper, we examine both the actions and discourses of the Polish government and its associated actors and the independent bottom-up responses of Polish society and how these were incorporated or rejected by the government. Our primary focus is on public health governance, including quarantine policies, the management of scarce personal protective equipment, related narratives and societal responses. This study is based primarily on desk research, analysis of key legislation and regulations tailored to the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland and analysis of social media (X/Twitter) discourse related to COVID-19. Our research reveals a crisis not only of governance but primarily of the neoliberal capitalist state. We conclude that governance during the COVID-19 pandemic in Poland showed uneven patterns.

Can there be responsible AI without AI liability? Incentivizing generative AI safety through ex-post tort liability under the EU AI liability directive

Abstract In Europe, the governance discourse surrounding artificial intelligence (AI) has been predominantly centred on the AI Act, with a proliferation of books, certification courses, and discussions emerging even before its adoption. This narrow focus has overshadowed other crucial regulatory interventions that promise to fundamentally shape AI. This article highlights the proposed EU AI liability directive (AILD), the first attempt to harmonize general tort law in response to AI-related threats, addressing critical issues such as evidence discovery and causal links. As AI risks proliferate, this article argues for the necessity of a responsive system to adequately address AI harms as they arise. AI safety and responsible AI, central themes in current regulatory discussions, must be prioritized, with ex-post liability in tort playing a crucial role in achieving these objectives. This is particularly pertinent as AI systems become more autonomous and unpredictable, rendering the ex-ante risk assessments mandated by the AI Act insufficient. The AILD’s focus on fault and its limited scope is also inadequate. The proposed easing of the burden of proof for victims of AI, through enhanced discovery rules and presumptions of causal links, is insufficient in a context where Large Language Models exhibit unpredictable behaviours and humans increasingly rely on autonomous agents for complex tasks. Moreover, the AILD’s reliance on the concept of risk, inherited from the AI Act, is misplaced, as tort liability intervenes after the risk has materialized. However, the inherent risks in AI systems could justify EU harmonization of AI torts in the direction of strict liability. Bridging the liability gap will enhance AI safety and responsibility, better protect individuals from AI harms, and ensure that tort law remains a vital regulatory tool.

Biosecurity infectious diseases of the returning Indonesian migrants workers

ABSTRACT Biosecurity is a crucial issue in a globalised world as today. Biosecurity has become a serious concern for some countries to prevent the transfer of any infectious diseases across borders. Involving human bio-surveillance, biosecurity regulation is actually an attempt to build new spatial demarcations in the border areas of countries. In the context of Indonesia, the biosecurity policy so far has been initiated and applied for protecting Indonesian borders from infectious disease transferred from the mobility of people, including Indonesian migrant workers when they returned back to this country. However, some important issues and controversies remain in debate, especially around the political economy discourses of the Indonesian government. This research, thus, focuses on the risk of disease transmission among the Indonesian migrant workers, which could affected not only Indonesia, but also others particular countries and global people’s health. This study examines the case of biosecurity issue in the border Island of Indonesia, which is Tanjungpinang situated in Riau Islands. Tanjungpinang is an offshore bordered area bordering to Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. This place is part of a major maritime traffics lane between its neighbouring countries. Tanjungpinang is also one of departure harbours for the Indonesian migrant workers to Malaysia and Singapore. Upon interviewing with migrant workers, the government representatives, and the NGOs/agents who have involved with migrant workers’ travels, this research found that biosecurity policy of the Indonesian government has not been implemented consistently and firm to the standard of health protocols; whilst, the prevention of infectious desease carried from migrant workers overseas who returned home could be spread out and brought health risks for domestic communities. The health authority in border area, i.e. Tanjungpinang, has provided screening rooms; yet, the screenings were implemented for some random workers and on the workers’ physical body.

Nature’s values in marine resource governance: an ethnographic case study of rockweed in Norway

This article addresses the shortcomings in the governance of the Norwegian macroscopic brown algae Ascophyllum nodosum (rockweed) that appeared when approaching rockweed as a socio-ecologic object in the Vega archipelago on the Norwegian Helgeland coast. A common seaweed along the Norwegian coast, rockweed constitutes an important species in Norway’s ‘blue forests’. Historically, rockweed harvesting was an important source of income for the local coastal population in Norway. Although not comparable to the newer and expanding kelp industry, rockweed harvesting is still profitable along the coast. Despite revived attention from the seaweed industry, state management of rockweed in 2024 is conspicuously absent. Combined with the lack of scientific knowledge of the consequences of rockweed harvesting on the local coastal ecosystems, the responsibility for ensuring sustainable harvesting of rockweed lies with the industry itself. On Vega, however, where rockweed is a highly valued and contested coastal species with a high economic, ecologic, and cultural significance, rockweed harvesting was a conflicted issue. In approaching rockweed as a socio-ecologic object from ‘below’, the article identifies hegemonic structures and discourses in Norwegian marine governance, suggesting how a narrow definition of ‘value’ comes to matter—not only for rockweed—but for sustainable governance of all marine and coastal ecosystems. This article is also an important contribution to the burgeoning interdisciplinary research on nature’s values, power, and knowledge in environmental management.

Social work community practice from a government discourse perspective: Motives for youth volunteers in controlling COVID-19 in Rwanda

During the COVID-19 pandemic, countries were in emergencies to contain the envisioned danger. Rwanda was no exception. Among strategies adopted by the country to control the pandemic were community interventions by youth volunteers. Using social movement and self-determination theories, the paper investigated the policy perspective of the motives for the voluntary engagement of these youths in controlling the pandemic so that these motives could be documented for future emergencies. A qualitative approach was adopted to explore what motivated these youths by analysing government discourses, where data were collected from six government policy documents. The content analysis was done after grouping the data into two categories and subcategories using MAXQDA 22, a qualitative data analysis software, for data mapping and visualization. The results indicate that youth volunteers have been mainly motivated by institutional-level motives, whereby government leadership mobilisation and coordination had a high occurrence, and under the individual-level motives category, civic-mindedness behaviour occurred high. The paper argues that conducive policies are a key motivation for social work community practices. Social workers should advocate for conducive policies to increase the productivity of voluntary activities. Another study involving talking to youth volunteers may complement the current findings.

Which direction for stakeholder capitalism? Approaches and reporting towards POP accounting

AbstractOur study uncovers the evolving landscape of stakeholder capitalism. This paradigm recognises the intrinsic value of capital among diverse stakeholders and underscores the importance of engaging them in the long‐term value‐generation process. Through bibliometric analysis, we explore the multifaceted nature of stakeholder capitalism, its historical evolution, and the current debates surrounding its implementation, particularly in social reporting and integrated performance representation. Our findings illuminate the growing emphasis on POP accounting as a potential bridge between traditional shareholder‐centric models and a more inclusive stakeholder‐oriented approach. POP accounting emerges as a vital tool for demystifying complex financial data, offering a transparent, accessible narrative that resonates with broader stakeholders. By integrating insights from various sectors and geographical regions, this paper sheds light on the practical implications of adopting POP accounting within stakeholder capitalism. It suggests it could catalyse a more democratic, transparent, and sustainable corporate governance framework. Our research contributes to the ongoing corporate responsibility and governance discourse, providing actionable insights for businesses, policymakers, and academics committed to fostering an equitable, stakeholder‐inclusive future.