Discourse Analysis: Strengths and Shortcomings

Year 2019, , 285 - 305, 01.07.2019

Senem Aydın-düzgit Bahar Rumelili

https://doi.org/10.20991/allazimuth.477300

Cited By: 15

Abstract

Discourse analysis is a much-favoured textual analysis
method among constructivist and critically minded International Relations
scholars interested in the impact of identity, meaning, and discourse on world
politics. The aim of this article is to guide students of Turkish IR in their
choice and use of this method. Written by two Turkish IR scholars who have employed
discourse analysis in their past and present research, this article also
includes a personal reflection on its strengths and shortcomings. The first
section of the article presents an overview of the conceptual and
epistemological underpinnings of discourse analysis, while charting the
evolution of discourse analysis in IR since the late 1980s in three phases. The
second section offers insight into the personal history of the researchers in
employing discourse analysis in their previous and ongoing research, while the
third section provides a how-to manual by performing discourse analysis of an
actual text. The concluding section focuses on the challenges faced in the
conduct of discourse analysis and the potential ways to overcome them, also
drawing from the researchers’ own experiences in the field. 

Keywords

Discourse analysis, international relations, qualitative methods, constructivism, critical discourse analysis

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