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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 story
lines 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 story lines 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 story lines have been and
currently are interacting to shape this policy.