Politics and the Struggle to Define: A Discourse Analysis of the Framing Strategies of Competing Actors in a 'New' Participatory Forum

Abstract

On account of the current wave of environmental consciousness, the state is adapting to the phenomena of systems of negotiations outside of the traditional institutional framework on environmental issues in an attempt to preserve cultural support. However recent experiments in discursive democracy have proven to be a modality for the transmission of productivist culture and for the reassertion of corporatist tendencies. This interpretation finds support here primarily through a discourse analysis based on a three-dimensional framework. The analysis begins by examining the structure of discursive formations of various participating actors at the Irish National Recycling Conference in 1993, and explores the ways in which actors struggled at the symbolic level to define the rules constitutive of this space of play. It argues from the perspective of discourse as social practice and justifies this approach by assessing the degree of synchronization between collective actors' systems of discursivity and the socially structured institutional sites within which they are embedded. Finally, by examining the position of this field vis-à-vis the field of political power, this research will show how broader relations of domination and traditional power asymmetries came to be reasserted in a 'new' participatory arrangement.

Participatory processes for designing environmental policies

“…Each position within a deliberative discourse can only survive the cross-fire of arguments and counter-arguments if it demonstrates internal consistency, compatibility with the legitimate range of knowledge claims and correspondence with the widely accepted norms and values of society. Deliberation clarifies the problem, makes people aware of framing effects, and determines the limits of what could be called reasonable within the plurality of interpretations (Skillington, 1997).…”

Inclusive risk governance: concepts and application to environmental policy making

“…Far from resolving or even reconciling confl icts, deliberation, according to this viewpoint, has the potential to decrease the pressure of confl ict, to provide a platform for making and challenging claims and to assist policy makers (Luhmann, 1989). Deliberations help reframe the decision context, make policy makers aware of public demands and enhance legitimacy of collective decisions through reliance on formal procedures (Freudenburg, 1983;Skillington, 1997). Participatory decision making seeks especially to include dissenting views and social minorities, thus illustrating the relativity of knowledge and power.…”

“…Each position within a deliberative discourse can survive the crossfi re of arguments and counter-arguments only if it demonstrates internal consistency, compatibility with the legitimate range of knowledge claims and correspondence to the widely accepted norms and values of society. Deliberation clarifi es the problem, makes people aware of framing effects and determines the limits of what could be called reasonable within the plurality of interpretations (Skillington, 1997).…”

Framing Water Sustainability in an Environmental Decision Support System

“…The diagnostic frame alluded to resource management and efficiency (Gibson et al 2005) to define the problem as uncertain and long-term water supply shortage caused by prolonged drought, climate change impacts, and population growth. The prognostic frame incorporated elements of the economic growth master frame (Skillington 1997), resource management and efficiency, and supply-demand balance, and suggested the solutions to be residential demand management and retirement of agricultural lands and conversion of agricultural water to municipal uses to achieve sustainable groundwater management to support population growth and economic development.…”

“…This review first identified a set of master frames that are called upon by diverse social groups to define problems and solutions and mobilize action across a variety of contexts. These included scientific rationality (Hall and White 2008;Mercer 2002;Roth et al 2003), economic growth (Skillington 1997), social justice (Edwards 2006), and local knowledge (Brown 1992;Harrison et al 1998). Additional frame elements found in resource and sustainability literature included human-ecological systems integrity, resource maintenance and efficiency, interand intragenerational equity, precaution and adaptation, democratic governance, private property rights, social responsibility, ecosystem preservation, technological innovation, and supply-demand balance (Gibson et al 2005;Shriver and Peaden 2009).…”