Interpreting public policy dilemmas: discourse analytical insights

This article explains the value of discourse analysis for interpreting the construction and resolution of policy dilemmas in the field of international education. Its case material is drawn from official documents relating to international education policy, published by global bodies such as the United Nations and World Bank from 2000 to 2018, explored with two purposes in mind. The first is empirical, the analysis revealing how a dominant ‘liberal’ model governing international education was discursively constructed as a grand narrative about the purpose and intended outcomes in international education. This is achieved by applying an interpretive discourse analytical approach, customised for this particular policy puzzle, to the international education corpus. The article’s second purpose is methodological, to reflect on the various criticisms and supposed limitations of using discourse analysis as a tool of public policy analysis. This part of the article argues that the discourse approach can equip analysts with a reliable tool-kit for carrying out research into the subtle and often unrecognised ways in which ideas and beliefs inform global education policy practices. A systematic discourse analysis reveals the tensions and sometimes conflicting meanings that elite decision-makers possess about international education. Ultimately, it is argued that the discourse approach can offer both empirical insights and a range of policy recommendations from a discourse analysis that destabilises the dominant ‘liberal’ narrative about international education in the relevant documents.

Ian Wash