Discourse Networks in German State Education Policy

In policy process research, the recently established Programmatic Action Framework (PAF) provides a new lens on policy process through policy networks by focusing on programmatic groups. Discourse networks and narrative stories can be used by these programmatic groups to push their own policy program and place themselves in power positions (Bandelow and Hornung 2019). This links the PAF to the concept of narrative stories and discourse networks in policy analysis. In the case of German education policy, it’s an important policy area in which the German Länder hold competencies (Zapp and Powell 2016). Therefore, each of the German Länder have their own administrative apparatus. Nevertheless, there are linkages between the federal and interstate level due to the joint federalism in Germany. This contribution aims at investigating linkages of policy makers on different levels through recent discourse networks on German school policy in selected Länder. By analyzing media discourses on German education policy, this paper poses the question whether discourses run equally in the different Länder, and whether the discourse networks emerge vertically, horizontal, or both. Methodologically, we apply Discourse Network Analysis (2018). The empirical basis are newspaper articles of influential newspapers in the selected Länder. This proposal is dedicated to the panel "Programmatic action, social identities, and actor networks in policy process research", but also fits to other panels. Bandelow, Nils C., and Johanna Hornung. 2019. "One discourse to rule them all? Narrating the agenda for labor market policies in France and Germany." Policy and Society 38 (3):408-428. doi: 10.1080/14494035.2019.1641379. Leifeld, Philip. 2018. Discourse Network Analysis: Policy Debates as Dynamic Networks. Edited by Jennifer N. Victor, Alexander H. Montgomery and Mark Lubell, The Oxford Handbook of Political Networks. New York: Oxford University Press. Zapp, Mike, and Justin J. W. Powell. 2016. "How to construct an organizational field: Empirical educational research in Germany, 1995–2015." European Educational Research Journal 15 (5):537-557. doi: 10.1177/1474904116641422.