From Discourse Coalitions to Narrative-Networks : Uncovering Networks in the Deliberative Process

Much has been written about the role of boundary spanning networks in environmental governance. In these often emergent and heterogenous networks, discourse may be fragemented and inchoate and appear unable to support coalitions, yet still able to achieve successes. We discuss a recent conceptual development, that of the narrative-network, that affords a finer-grained analysis of these multiply-storied networks. Narrative-network analyses may differ in some significant ways from much of the work seen in discourse research, especially in the former’s more intensive use of methods from narratology. We suggest that discourse analysts would do well to extend the reach of their concepts and widen their methodological toolkits to include narrative-networks. There are ample reasons to believe that the narrative-network concept can afford, more than extant analytics, analysis of new, emergent, and heterogeneous networks, and we close the article by suggesting that its purchase may extend beyond these cases and speak to the broader political landscape