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The bonds of institutional language: A discursive institutionalist approach to the C lerk of the P rivy C ouncil's annual report
Author(s) -
Dutil Patrice A.,
Ryan Peter Malachy
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
canadian public administration
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.361
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1754-7121
pISSN - 0008-4840
DOI - 10.1111/capa.12002
Subject(s) - documentation , context (archaeology) , consistency (knowledge bases) , historical institutionalism , government (linguistics) , institutionalism , field (mathematics) , political science , sociology , public administration , linguistics , law , history , politics , archaeology , computer science , programming language , philosophy , geometry , mathematics , pure mathematics
Abstract The C lerk of the P rivy C ouncil's annual report is seen as an important documentation of the public sector's priorities, but has never been examined. Using a combination of traditional content analysis and digital humanities techniques, this study analyses the first sixteen reports written under the aegis of six clerks, and concludes that they reflect competing priorities and emphases. Yet while the reports are each distinct, they collectively are highly repetitive and remarkably unaffected by either the context in which they were written or the policies pursued by governments. The consistency of the texts over sixteen years of transformation in government indicates that such institutional discourse is slow to change, demonstrating a strong “bond” to what had been reported previously. This article also shows how a mix of methods in dissecting the use of language can contribute to the budding field of discursive institutionalism.