The Dynamics of Depoliticisation: Conclusions and Theoretical Reflections

Abstract

This conclusion reviews the theoretical and empirical contributions from the chapters in this volume and develops some more general arguments concerning how we might understand the dynamics of depoliticisation. As such, it makes three claims. First, there is widespread agreement among the authors that depoliticisation (however defined) is a contingent phenomenon, which is being contested and in some cases undermined in a variety of locations. Second, it is also widely accepted if we are going to work towards a more general explanation of when, how and why depoliticisation is challenged and reversed, we need to broaden the boundaries of the concept. The analytical focus of research in this area should not just be on governmental elites or state institutions, but on how actors outside government or the state respond to depoliticisation. Finally, many of the contributors to this volume have emphasised the significance of ideational factors, and more particularly, how societal-level groups have successfully deployed discursive strategies to resist governmental depoliticisation techniques. It is this emphasis on the ideational or discursive which looks particularly promising when it comes to accounting for the dynamics of depoliticisation, although we should never forget that actors, with their discursive strategies, always interact within a broader structural context that may shape the scope for agency.