[Commlist] cfp Advances in Critical Policy Discourse Analysis (Conference)

Conference

Thessaloniki, Greece

Date: 24/08/2025 - 27/08/2025
Call for papers ending on: 5/01/2025

This Section seeks to bring together scholars using critical text analytical
and discourse analytical approaches in the study of policy and politics, 
with
the aim to contribute to Critical Policy Discourse Analysis (Fairclough,
2013; Montesano Montessori, Farrelly and Mulderrig (eds.) 2019; Montesano
Montessori, 2023). The Section Chairs are particularly interested in
exploring: ▪️ how policies are constituted and contested ▪️ how to
bring complexity into processes of policy making and policy analysis ▪️
how to approach to the role of ideology and how critical discourse 
approaches
might lead to improved policy making processes▪️To present examples of
critical constructive policy analysis, for instance through suggesting
alternative practices or processes (Mukhtarov and Gasper, 2022; Montesano
Montessori and Lautensach, 2024). We aim to discuss these questions underthe
analytical umbrella of Critical Policy Discourse Analysis (Montesano
Montessori, Farrelly, and Mulderrig, 2019), and we invite proposals for
themed Panels and individual Papers which critically interrogate the role of
text(s) in constituting, legitimating, and contesting policy problems in a
range of political contexts. Critical Policy Discourse Analysis (CPDA)
combines critical discourse analysis with critical policy studies by
establishing theoretical and methodological synergies between these two
fields to enrich our understanding of how policy is constituted and 
contested
in various contexts. It does so by bringing the rigorous and systematic
analysis of texts, informed by linguistic theory, into transdisciplinary
dialogue with theoretical frameworks capable of recognising the socially
structuring potential of discourse, but which alone tend to overlook the
micro-textual processes. This approach seeks to achieve explanatory adequacy
in critical policy research by attending to the micro, meso and macro levels
at which policy ideas operate; and the knowledge, values and ideologies 
which
underpin them. CPDA emerges from two long-standing traditions in social
science research whose origins lie in Linguistics and Political Science
respectively. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) combines detailed 
analysis of
texts with theoretically informed accounts of policy problems. It asks how
political language construes specific policy problems in a way that 
transmits
and naturalises ideologies, thus linking directly to patterns of injustice,
discrimination and power (Fairclough et al., 2011; Wodak and Meyer, 2016;
Flowerdew and Richardson, 2018). Critical Policy Studies (CPS) continues
Lasswell’s commitment to developing critical and democratic policyscience,
while placing a strong theoretical emphasis on the idea of ‘contingency’
in policy formation. It pays particular attention to (ideological) norms,
values and assumptions which underpin policy processes (Fischer et al.,
2015). As such, CPS shares an analytical focus with CDA on the socially
constitutive role of knowledge, power and discourse. Furthermore, both CPS
and CDA mark the ‘ideational’ turn in social science, which views
discourse as having causal powers in social life (Fairclough, Jessop, Sayer,
2004). Section Chairs invite proposals for Panels and Papers which 
follow and
enhance the tradition of CPDA in combining textually oriented discourse
analysis (TODA) with theoretically informed explanatory critique of policy
and political texts. Panels should be organised around a particular theme
which may be based on a particular policy field, political issue, 
theoretical
framework, or methodological approach. We would particularly welcome
proposals which advance CPDA by focusing on its application in the following
areas of policy and practice: ▪️ Economic Policy ▪️ Education Policy
▪️ Environment and Sustainability Policy (SDGs and beyond) ▪️Health
Policy ▪️Security Policy Research questions which might be explored in
those areas include, but need not be confined to, the following: ▪️ What
are the specific ideological issues at stake? How are these legitimated?
▪️ Are there identifiable political ‘mantras’ which naturalise
particular policy perspectives? (e.g. ‘There is no alternative’;
‘Expert knowledge is redundant in the digital era’; ‘Policy must keep
pace with rapid social and technological change’) ▪️ How does policy
operate and translate across scales? ▪️ How do policy imaginaries
(simplifying discourses) seek to reduce complexity? What problems arise from
this? What constructive and evidence-based alternatives can replace
simplifying or biased imaginaries? ▪️ (How) is policy constrained and
framed by discourses of risk and resilience? ▪️ (How) is policy inflected
by populist political discourse? We also welcome Papers which explore the
tensions between policy hegemony and counter-hegemonic resistance, for
instance: ▪️ The role of the digital in new social movements ▪️
Initiatives to free ‘sustainability’ from the grip of technology and
digitalisation. References: Fairclough, N (1995) Critical Discourse Analysis
London: Longman Fairclough, N. (2013) Critical Discourse analysis and
critical policy studies. Critical Policy Studies 7(2): 177-197 Fairclough,
N., Mulderrig, J. and Wodak, R. (2011). ‘Critical Discourse Analysis’, in
T Van Dijk (Ed.) Discourse Studies: a multidisciplinary introduction, 
London:
Sage (357-378) Fairclough N. Jessop R. and Sayer A. (2004). Critical realism
and semiosis. In: Joseph J. and Roberts J. (Eds.) Realism discourse and
Deconstruction. London: Routledge Fischer, F., Torgerson, D., Durnová, A and
Orsini, M. (2015). Introduction to critical policy studies. In Handbook of
Critical Policy Studies, (Eds, Fischer, F., Torgerson, D., Durnová, A and
Orsini, M.) Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, pp. 1-24 Flowerdew, J. and Richardson,
J. (Eds.) (2018). The Routledge Handbook of Critical Discourse Studies.
London, New York: Routledge Montesano Montessori, N. (2023): Critical Policy
Discourse Analysis. In: M. Handford & J.P. Gee (eds). Handbook of Discourse
Studies. Pp. 610-624. Routledge Montesano Montessori, N., Farrelly, M.,
Mulderrig, J. (Eds) (2019) Critical Policy Discourse Analysis Cheltenham:
Edward Elgar Wodak, R. and Meyer, M. (Eds). (2016, 3rd Ed.). Methods of
Critical Discourse Studies. London: Sage Montesano Montessori, N., &
Lautensach, A. (2024). A blueprint for what? From a critical policy
discursive analysis of UN’s sustainable development goals to a constructive
rearticulation for their application. Critical Policy Studies, 1–20.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19460171.2024.2355140 Mukhtarov Farhad, Des Gasper,
Aditya Alta, Neha Gautam, Maria Sattwika Duhita & Diego Hernández Morales
(2022) From ‘merchants and ministers’ to ‘neutral brokers’? Water
diplomacy aspirations by the Netherlands – a discourse analysis of the 2011
commissioned advisory report, International Journal of Water Resources
Development, 38:6, 1009-1031, DOI: 10.1080/07900627.2021.1929086


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------