PT | EN

Seminário do CES  
Partnership, Governance and Participatory Democracy: a Critical Discourse Analysis Perspective on the Dialectics of Regulation and Democracy
Norman Fairclough 
Emeritus Professor, Lancaster University, UK

2 de Maio de 2008, 16h00, Sala de Seminários do CES (2ºPiso)

Governments and other regulatory authorities are seeking greater participation by citizens in decision-making, partly in response to widespread alienation and self-exclusion from politics and government, and partly in pursuit of 'better governance'. This is sometimes presented in terms of 'participation' and sometimes 'partnership', not simple equivalents though there is an overlap: partnership is often understood as including 'communities' or 'users' as 'stakeholders'. Insofar as these initiatives are claimed to be involve forms of regulation which can make governance more democratic, they give rise to a contemporary form of an old question: what is the relationship between regulation and democracy in countries we call 'democracies'? what tensions and contradictions are there between them? what is the nature of the dialectic between them? Regulation and democracy can be regarded as conflicting principles or 'logics'. Within their tense relationship, democracy is a deeply contested concept. I assume two features of democracy: it is adversarial, and oriented to widening the set of subjects with the capacity to develop and pursue strategies. The question I am concerned with is to what extent these initiatives can have democratic content in this sense.

It is clear both from such practical initiatives and theoretical debates that questions of democracy involve questions of public discourse and dialogue, so there is a strong case for including a focus on language/discourse in research. My methodological concern is with adding resources to existing frameworks for critical research which can bring discourse into greater focus with greater analytical purchase and thereby enhance these frameworks. More specifically, with developing an approach to analysing political discourse based upon 'critical discourse analysis' for a specifically semiotic 'point of entry' into trans-disciplinary research on politics and government/governance.

I shall use one particular case to illustrate applying this approach in trans-disciplinary research on participation initiatives: a series of farm trials of GM crops in the UK 1999-2003, and an EU research project exploring ways in which people position themselves and others as 'citizens' within discussions and public debate around these trials. I shall address two issues: (a) the tendency for government participation initiatives to limit forms of participation in ways which bring into question their democratic content; (b) ways in which participants can nevertheless seek to move such forms in a more democratic direction. I shall indicate how this framework for political discourse analysis can contribute to addressing these issues.


Handout da Conferência (pdf)

Apresentação (pdf)

Outras Actividades
Conferência no Instituto de Estudos Jornalísticos
> saber mais


Nota biográfica

Norman Fairclough é uma referência incontornável nos estudos do discurso que estabelecem diálogos entre teorias da linguagem e teorias críticas. Desde o início dos anos 80, Norman Fairclough tem vindo a explorar o papel da linguagem (da língua, da semiose e do discurso) na constituição de relações de poder e ideologia, e nos processos de mudança e transformação sociais. Através do desenvolvimento de uma análise crítica do discurso, interessa-lhe entender a linguagem como elemento constitutivo das mudanças sociais contemporâneas - como a globalização, o neo-liberalismo, o neo-capitalismo, a economia do conhecimento, a construção de "cidadania e participação", entre outros processos. Mais recentemente tem vindo a trabalhar nos aspectos discursivos aliados aos processos de "transição" na Europa Central e de Leste, com maior incidência no caso da Roménia.
Jubilado da Universidade de Lancaster, onde ainda mantém as suas posições como professor no Departamento de Linguística e investigador no Institute for Advanced Studies daquela universidade, e com doutoramentos honoris causa na Finlândia e na Dinamarca, Norman Fairclough desenvolve ainda uma intensa actividade na formação e supervisão em vários cursos de mestrado e doutoramento, mais recentemente na Roménia, Dinamarca e no Reino Unido, principalmente orientados para a investigação social inter-e transdisciplinar.


Livros publicados

 
Language and Power, London: Longman 1989 (second revised edition 2001)
Discourse and Social Change, Cambridge: Polity Press 1992
Critical Language Awareness (edited volume), London: Longman 1992
Media Discourse, London: Edward Arnold 1995a
Critical Discourse Analysis, London: Longman 1995b
Discourse in Late Modernity - Rethinking Critical Discourse Analysis, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press 1999 (with Lilie Chouliaraki)
New Labour, New Language? London: Routledge, 2000
Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research, London: Routledge 2003a
Language and Globalization, London: Routledge 2006a
Discourse in Contemporary Social Change (co-edited volume), Peter Lang 2007