Policy discourse and public spheres : the Habermas paradox
By: Torgerson, Douglas
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ArticlePublisher: Oxon : Routledge, apr. 2010Subject(s): Setor Público | Governança | Relações de Trabalho | Ciência PolíticaCritical Policy Studies 4, 1, p. 1-17Abstract: Emerging attention to policy discourse and network models of governance render dubious Jürgen Habermas' claim that discourses do not govern. His position follows from a sharp delineation between civil society and the state and from a conceptual strategy, centering on a bifurcation of lifeworld and system, that tends to deflect attention from multiple, complex ways in which discourses connect public spheres with the policy process. Given his substantial influence on the emergence of critical policy studies, Habermas thus presents a paradox. Although his work has served to advance the critique of technocracy, his conceptual strategy tends to reinforce technocratic self-images in a way that would inhibit a move from monologue to dialogue in policy discourse. The potential for such a move suggests that the question to ask is not whether discourses govern, but which discourses are to be involved in governing
Emerging attention to policy discourse and network models of governance render dubious Jürgen Habermas' claim that discourses do not govern. His position follows from a sharp delineation between civil society and the state and from a conceptual strategy, centering on a bifurcation of lifeworld and system, that tends to deflect attention from multiple, complex ways in which discourses connect public spheres with the policy process. Given his substantial influence on the emergence of critical policy studies, Habermas thus presents a paradox. Although his work has served to advance the critique of technocracy, his conceptual strategy tends to reinforce technocratic self-images in a way that would inhibit a move from monologue to dialogue in policy discourse. The potential for such a move suggests that the question to ask is not whether discourses govern, but which discourses are to be involved in governing
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