Development discourses in the context of mekong hydropower development: a critical discourse analysis

Abstract

The study investigates the notions of “development” in the context of Mekong Hydropower Development. Through the lens of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), the study aims to examine 1) What are the notions of Development constituted in the context of Mekong hydropower dams found in the news articles? 2) What are the discursive strategies employed to establish the notions of development in such context? 3) What are contending discourses generated under development discourses in such context? 108 extracts of news related to Mekong hydropower development were collected from two databases: the NewsCenter and the Google search Engine. The selection of the news was produced from 1995 to 2017.

The analysis was conducted under using two theoretical frameworks: Fairclough’s Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Van Dijk’s Sociocognitive Approach (SCA). The analysis is divided into three levels: sociocultural practice, discursive practice and text using ideological discourse analysis (Van Dijk, 2009) to analyze news text. The result revealed eight ideological discursive strategies constructed ideological representation of social groups: 1) Negative lexicalization, 2) Hyperbole, 3) Negative Comparison, 4) Generalization, 5) Concretization, 6) Warning, 7) Norm and Value Violation and 8) Presupposition. Among the eight discursive strategies, three distinct discursive strategies that most frequently employed in the news headlines and leads, they are 1) Presupposition (74 news), 2) Negative lexicalization (52 news) and 3) Warning (32 news) respectively. The study also reveals the key social players interplayed in the context, in which they are crucial to

constitute contending development discourses or development notions in such context. The analysis on discursive strategies help to establish understanding on the discursive practice and sociocultural practices of the context. The indentification of the key social players and their diverse discourses reflect various interpretations of “development” co-existing in such context. The findings that trace the origin of the contentious discourses awareness of various opions held by stakeholders of dam constitution in the region.