Introduction: Discourse Analysis and Policy Discourse

Gasper & Apthorpe provide a comprehensive overview of different approaches to policy as discourse. Their starting point is to see policy discourse as 'argumentation', rather than as objective and scientific statements. In other words, policies are ways of putting forward an argument about what a particular situation (or what the world) is like, and what should be done about it.
Discourse analysis encompasses several strands. Some of the most important points from these various streams include:

• Policy discourse inevitably frames problems in a certain way, i.e. includes some aspects rather than others. This approach to discourse analysis might focus on the specific concepts, tropes and frames used in policies.
  
• Policy discourse determines (and is determined by) a larger set of 'rules' about what is sayable and thinkable. (For example, it is thinkable that participation is a good thing, but it is less thinkable that participation is a bad thing.) This approach might focus more widely on the stories and narratives that sustain policies, and the explicit or implicit rules of validation.
  
• Policy discourse is not 'just words' but has material effects, as a change in discourse will have an effect e.g. on the distribution of resources.
• The idea of 'emancipatory reading' is introduced. Discourse analysis which focuses both on the text and the context of policies can serve to draw attention to the argument that the policy is putting forward (often under the cloak of neutrality and objectivity). This in turn can open up for debate and increase the room for manoeuvre within policy-making.