The Discourse of Politics in Action Also by Ruth Wodak DISORDERS OF DISCOURSE (1996) GENDER AND DISCOURSE (1997) THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY (1999, with R. de Cillia, M. Reisigl, K. Liebhart, revised 2nd edition 2009) METHODS OF CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (2001, with M. Meyer, revised 2nd edition 2009) EUROPEAN DISCOURSES ON UN/EMPLOYMENT (2000, with P. Muntigl, G. Weiss) DAS KANN EINEM NUR IN WIEN PASSIEREN. ALLTAGSGESCHICHTEN (2001) DISCOURSE AND DISCRIMINATION (2001, with M. Reisigl) THE HAIDER PHENOMENON IN AUSTRIA (2002, with A. Pelinka) CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS: THEORY AND INTERDISCIPLINARITY (2003, with G. Weiss, 2nd edition 2007) NATO, NEUTRALITY AND NATIONAL IDENTITY (2003, with A. Kovàcs) RE/READING THE PAST (2003, with J. Martin) A NEW AGENDA IN (CRITICAL) DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (2005, with P. Chilton, 2nd edition 2007) THE DISCURSIVE CONSTRUCTION OF HISTORY: REMEMBERING THE WEHRMACHT’S WAR OF ANNIHILATION (2008, with H. Heer, W. Manoschek, A. Pollak) QUALITATIVE DISCOURSE ANALYSIS IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (2008, with M. Krzyzanowski)˙ LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE (2008, with V. Koller, Handbook of Applied Linguistics vol. IV) THE POLITICS OF EXCLUSION: DEBATING MIGRATION IN AUSTRIA (2008, with M. Krzyzanowski)˙ THE EUROPEAN PUBLIC SPHERE AND THE MEDIA: EUROPE IN CRISIS (forth- coming, with A. Triandafyllidou and M. Krzyzanowski)˙ The Discourse of Politics in Action Politics as Usual Ruth Wodak Lancaster University © Ruth Wodak 2009 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2011 978-0-230-01881-5 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6-10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2009 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN 978-0-230-30075-0 ISBN 978-0-230-31653-9 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230316539 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wodak, Ruth, 1950– The discourse of politics in action / Ruth Wodak. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Political science—European Union countries. 2. Communication in politics—European Union countries. 3. European Parliament— Officials and employees—Case studies. 4. European Union countries—Politics and government. 5. Mass media— Political aspects. I. Title. JA84.E9W63 2009 320.01—dc22 2008051549 10987654321 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 Transferred to Digital Printing in 2010. To Georg and Jakob Contents List of Figures, Tables and Photographs x Preface xi 1 ‘Doing Politics’ 1 1 Public politics: the ‘frontstage’ 1 1.1 Performing politics 1 1.2 Communicating politics 5 2 Staging politics: integrating performance, habitus, communities of practice, and the discursive construction of professional identities 7 3 Looking behind the scenes: the ‘backstage’ 14 4 Politics/politicians and the media 17 4.1 Media and crisis: broadcasting ‘snapshots’ 17 4.2 Disenchantment with politics: fictionalization of everyday politics in the media 19 5 Relevant dimensions for the study of everyday politics 23 2 The (Ir)rationality of Politics 28 1 The many – presupposed – meanings of ‘doing politics’ 29 2 Discourse, politics and power 32 2.1 Inter/trans/multidisciplinarity and ‘relevance’ 32 2.2 Power and critique 34 2.3 Discourse, text and context: the Discourse-Historical Approach in CDA 38 3 Power, knowledge and presuppositions 45 4 Orders and disorders: analysing organizational everyday routines 49 3 ‘Politics as Usual’ on the ‘European Stage’: Constructing and Performing ‘European Identities’ 57 1 Introduction: Quo vadis, Europe?57 2 Multiple identities in the European Parliament 62 vii viii Contents 2.1 The European Parliament: in the aftermath of the European Convention 62 2.2 Constructing Europeanness: the European Parliament 65 2.3 La tribu exotique 71 2.4 Individual/social/collective identities 75 3OnbeinganMEP 80 3.1 Talking to MEPs 80 4 On being European 94 4.1 ‘What does “European” mean for you?’ 94 4.2 ‘Constructing Europeanness’: discourse analysis of selected interview sequences 97 4.3 Visions of Europe 106 5 Some concluding thoughts 110 4 One Day in the Life of an MEP 113 1 Long days and much paper 113 2 Ways of knowing: framework for analysing ethnographic data 119 3 Starting the day 121 4 Committee meeting 126 5 The missed photo opportunity 137 6 Lunch 138 7 Evening lecture 145 8 ‘Doing politics’: performing backstage 151 5 Everyday Politics in Television: Fiction and/or Reality? 156 1 The ‘American Dream’? 156 2Thefictionalization of politics 161 3 Politics and media 162 4 Constructing the modern hero 164 4.1 Wild West and The West Wing 164 4.2 Genre and ‘plot’ – The West Wing episode ‘Commencement’ 167 4.3 Politicizing fiction 172 5 Conclusions 183 6 Order or Disorder – Fiction or Reality? The Implications of ‘Power and Knowledge Management’ on ‘Politics as Usual’ 187 1 ‘Banal’ politics? 187 2 An integrated interdisciplinary theoretical framework 190 Contents ix 3 Representation and legitimation 194 4 Expectations and disappointments 201 5 The fictionalization of politics and the politicization of fiction 203 Appendix: Original German Data (Chapter 3) 208 Notes 211 References 223 Index 241 List of Figures, Tables and Photographs Figures 2.1 Selected dimensions of discourse as social practice 41 2.2 Discursive strategies and topoi 44 3.1 Organizational flow of proposals 68 3.2 Co-decision procedure 69 6.1 Theoretical cornerstones of ‘politics as usual’ 192 Tables 2.1 Types of presupposition 49 3.1 Members of the European Parliament 66 3.2 Characteristics of the European Parliament as viewed by MEPs 81 3.3 MEPs’ regional, national and other identities 96 3.4 Characteristics of feeling ‘European’ 98 Pictures 3.1 First session of the directly elected European Parliament 70 3.2 European Parliament AV booth; 1 November 1993 (after Maastricht Treaty) 71 3.3 Corridor with MEPs’ boxes waiting to be collected and moved to Brussels 73 3.4 Moving the boxes of MEPs 74 5.1 Two West Wing advisers rushing through the corridors of the White House 164 5.2 Martin Sheen (President Bartlett) in one The West Wing episode 168 x Preface In his seminal book The Symbolic Uses of Politics (1967), Murray Edelman defined politics in the following way: Politics is for the most of us a passing parade of abstract symbols, yet a parade which our experience teaches us to be a benevolent or malevolent force that can be close to omnipotent. Because politics does visibly confer wealth, take life, imprison and free people, and represent a history with strong emotional and ideological associations, its processes become easy objects upon which to displace private emotions, especially strong anxieties and hopes. (Edelman, 1967: 5) In this brief description, Edelman captures salient characteristics of pol- itics; more specifically, he draws our attention to the manifold positive and negative uses of political symbols and to the ubiquity of their var- ious effects on all our lives: politics pervade our lives – even if we are not always aware of it. I grew up in a family where politics was dis- cussed at every meal, both seemingly petty party politics and the ‘huge’ problems of the world in the post-World War Two and Cold War era. I learned and internalized very early that politics could be extremely dangerous – my parents had in fact barely survived the Nazi regime as refugees in England. The memories of such a traumatic past haunted – also implicitly and indirectly – our daily lives as did the powerful post- war slogan Nie Wieder (Never again!). Newspapers and the radio were viewed as ‘holy grails’; I was not allowed to interrupt my parents when they read or listened to current affairs; the news was turned on first thing in the morning, as if to reassure themselves that no imminent danger existed. Participation in politics in the forms available to citizens in democratic systems was regarded as vital, most obviously by celebrat- ing election days as important events; I learnt how many struggles had been necessary to achieve this basic right of political participation. Moreover, as my parents were diplomats, I experienced the every- day life of international politics first hand. Diplomacy