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Abstract
This article introduces discourse analysis as a theoretical concept and an empirical
methodology that may enable the endogenization of path creation and path breaking changes
in conventional models of political path dependencies. Economic criteria such as rents created
by a policy do not always provide a comprehensive explanation for path dependent political
decisions. Discourse theory implies that specific interpretative schemata and narratives, such
as storylines in the mass media, heavily influence the political discourse. Discourses
themselves exercise a constitutive power that constrains decision-making processes and, thus,
influence the ensuing policy creation path. Hence, discourses must be taken into account
when political path creation is analysed. In this paper we trace over time individual storylines
that represent important elements of the discourse underlying the restriction of seasonal farm
workers from central and eastern European countries in Germany. We illustrate how
dominant speakers and their storylines have been and currently are interacting to shape this
policy.