Discourse Analysis: Strengths and Shortcomings*

Abstract

Discourse analysis is a much-favoured textual analysis method amongconstructivist and critically minded International Relations scholars interested inthe impact of identity, meaning, and discourse on world politics. The aim of thisarticle is to guide students of Turkish IR in their choice and use of this method.Written by two Turkish IR scholars who have employed discourse analysis intheir past and present research, this article also includes a personal reflectionon its strengths and shortcomings. The first section of the article presents anoverview of the conceptual and epistemological underpinnings of discourseanalysis, while charting the evolution of discourse analysis in IR since the late1980s in three phases. The second section offers insight into the personal historyof the researchers in employing discourse analysis in their previous and ongoingresearch, while the third section provides a how-to manual by performingdiscourse analysis of an actual text. The concluding section focuses on thechallenges faced in the conduct of discourse analysis and the potential ways toovercome them, also drawing from the researchers’ own experiences in the field.