Does Discourse Matter? Discourse Analysis in Environmental Policy Making
Discourse analysis deals with three challenges in the field of environmental policy analysis: First, phenomena are interpreted in multiple and contested ways. Second, environmental discourses compete with other discourses and are interwoven with them. Third, discourses and practices, institutional capacities and technologies are co-produced in the historical process. A variety of approaches reflect the multiple challenges. Especially, Foucaultian and non-Foucaultian perspectives on discourse analysis can be discerned. We identify common strengths and notable differences among them and discuss major achievements of discourse analysis. We argue that all perspectives contribute to a better understanding of how discursive processes ‘construct’ nature, environment and basic categories like space and time as contested concepts. Discourse analysis also helps to understand how concepts of nature impinge on identities and bodies and how they render subjects and objects governable. Then, we discuss challenges to discourse analysis in environmental policy and planning. Among them we stress that the ways in which actors and discursive structures are linked, including the role of motivations and policy arenas, need further clarification. Finally, we argue that discourse analysis calls into mind that discourses contribute to institutionalisation and show characteristics of institutions, but are not liable to democratic practices. This offers a radical perspective on the preconditions and limitations of environmental justice and democracy.
Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning, Volume 7(3), 1-13, (2005), ISBN 978-3-89404-556-2