Political Language, Causal Stories, and Pesticide Regulation
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15763/issn.2374-7781.1994.15.0.491-506Abstract
This article begins with the premise that the subgovemments which had dominated policy-making since the 1940s have given way to more amorphous and nebulous networks of influence. Given this fact, we ask: how have entrenched interests—those who had previously dominated subgovernment politics—reacted to the dissolution of their subgovemments? Focusing on one entrenched interest—pesticide manufacturers and their representatives—we argue that one response strategy is "going public" by (1) offering new causal stories which contradict the claims of new policy "players," (2) using political language designed to capture the "linguistic high ground." and (3) "framing" issues to favorably change the outlines of the debate. Ultimately, we argue that the dissolution of subgovemments has led to the "politicization" of many issues, which in turn has led to the increased use of language, causal stories, and symbols, as tools in policy battles.References
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