Logics, assumptions and genre chains: a framework for poststructuralist policy analysis

An unresolved aspect of the Logics Approach within Poststructuralist Discourse Theory (PDT) is how to operationalize its abstract theoretical concepts – of social, political and fantasmatic logics – for concrete textual analysis, especially of policy documents. Policies often institute new understandings, procedures or practices, something the logics, as originally articulated, fall somewhat short of capturing. To overcome these methodological challenges this article constructs a framework for poststructuralist policy analysis that brings together the Logics Approach with more textually oriented tools developed within Critical Discourse Analysis, namely assumptions and genre chains. For empirical illustration it draws on a case study of the European Union’s adaptation policy in response to climate change. The resulting framework offers a means through which more implicit social and political logics can be examined, and contributes new insights to methodological debates around the use of the Logics Approach (and PDT more broadly), specifically in relation to critical policy analysis. The article concludes with seven observations of relevance for future studies and suggests avenues for further empirical and conceptual exploration.