Centre for Ideology and Discourse Analysis

cIDA builds its intellectual community through regular activities, organised within related clusters:

• poststructuralist, post-Marxist and psychoanalytic theories of ideology and discourse
• democratic theory, governance and critical policy analysis
• research methods in critical political theory
• populism and radical democracy
• democracy, justice and social movements
• mass media, communication and political agency
• critical fantasy studies

cIDA and its members have forged extensive links with other Universities and Centres across the globe that actively draw on the tradition of the ‘Essex School of Discourse Theory’, including the work of the CIDA Directors - Professors Glynos & Howarth - on the ‘Logics Approach’ to critical social and political analysis. Through collaborative projects and visiting professorships they have established links with a wide range of institutions, including Stockholm University, CBS, the State University of Rio de Janeiro and UFPE, Recife, and the University of Bergen.

The directors are also active members of the International Research Network DeSiRe (Democracy, Signification, Resistance), which is a collaborative relation between academics at Free University, Brussels (lead organization), Essex, Uppsala, and Aristotle University, Thessaloniki.

cIDA initiates and coordinates major events beyond its regular seminar series, including international conferences and workshops, such as:  

• “Logics, Critical Explanation and the Future of Critical Political Theory: Applying Discourse Analysis in Multiple Contexts” (2019)
• “The Politics of Numbers within the New Technologies of Governance” (2019) 
• “Essex Transform: Democracy and Active Citizenship in Academia”(2018)
• “Populism and ‘Constructing a People’” (2017)
• “Austerity, Resistance and Emergent Imaginaries: From Occupied Squares to the Parliament and the Neighbourhood” (2017)

Our upcoming Summer Schools:

• 1Q Doing Discourse Analysis: Populism, Neoliberalism and Radical Democratic Politics - 10th July 2023

• 2I Applying Discourse Theory: Politics, Ideology, Populism - 18th August 2023

Our previous Summer Schools:

Applying Discourse Theory: Politics, Ideology, Populism

Doing Discourse Analysis: Neoliberalism, Populism and Radial Democracy

• Glynos, J., Howarth, D., Flitcroft, R., Love, C., Roussos, K. and Vazquez, J., (2021). Logics, discourse theory and methods: Advances, challenges and ways forward. Journal of Language and Politics. 20 (1), 62-78.
• Glynos, J. (2021) Critical Fantasy Studies, Journal of Language and Politics 20(1): 95-111.
• Bloom, P. and Śliwa, M., (2021). Hacking work: Critically examining the implications of the new discourse and practices of hacking for work intensification and organisational control. Human Relations, 001872672199676-001872672199676
• Griggs, S., Howarth, D. and Feandeiro, A., (2020). The Logics and Limits of ‘Collaborative Governance’ in Nantes: Myth, Ideology and the Politics of New Urban Regimes. Journal of Urban Affairs. 42 (1), 91-108.
• Griggs, S. and Howarth, D., (2019). Discourse, policy and the environment: hegemony, statements and the analysis of UK airport expansion. Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning. 21 (5), 464-478.
• Barnett, N., Griggs, S. and Howarth, D., (2019). Whatever happened to Councillors? Problematising the deficiency narrative in English local politics. Political Studies. 67 (3), 775-794.
• Carter, D. and Warren, R., (2019). Metonyms and metaphor: the rhetorical redescription of public interest for the International Accounting Standards Board. Critical Policy Studies. 13 (3), 280-305.
• Howarth, D., (2018). Marx, discourse theory and political analysis: negotiating an ambiguous legacy. Critical Discourse Studies. 15 (4), 377-389.
• De Cleen, B., Glynos, J. and Mondon, A. (2018) Critical Research on Populism: Nine Rules of Engagement, Organization, 25(5): 649-661.
• Griggs, S., Hall, S., Howarth, D. and Seigneuret, N., (2017). Characterizing and evaluating rival discourses of the ‘sustainable city’: Towards a politics of pragmatic adversarialism. Political Geography. 59, 36-4.
• Glynos, J. and Voutyras, S. (2016) Ideology as Blocked Mourning: Greek National Identity in Times of Economic Crisis and Austerity, Journal of Political Ideologies, 21(3): 201-224· 
• Howarth, D., (2015). Ernesto Laclau: Post-Marxism, Populism, and Critique. Routledge Taylor & Francis. 978-0-415-87087-0.
• Glynos, J., Speed, E. and West, K. (2015) Logics of Marginalisation in Health and Social Care Reform: Integration, Choice and Provider-blind Provision, Critical Social Policy, 35(1): 45-68.

Our academic staff frequently feature within the wider press and media. Below are some examples of their latest appearances:

• View The New Pretender article by Anam Kuraishi, PhD candidate, the University of Essex titled "Freedom-loving Brits" Taking back control: Post-truth in the COVID era. 
• Read The New Pretender article Of apples and oranges - Donald Trump and the threat of aspiration fascism which features research by Julius Schneider & Reid Kleinberg who are PhD researchers at cIDA, Department of Government, University of Essex.
• View The New Pretender article by Craig Love PhD candidate, University of Essex titled Seizing the moment? Scotland, coronavirus and the question of Independence. 
• Read The New Pretender article Expectedly unprecedented: Media discourses on COVID-19 and gender violence in Mexico which features research by Jimena Vazquez & Kostis Roussos. 
• Read The New Pretender article by Ryan Flitcroft titled Our finest hour - A very British response to crisis. 
• View The Conversation article by Professor David Howarth on Heathrow 2.0 a 'sustainable airport' that pretends no one has to choose between planes and pollution. 
• Read the Prospect article by Professor David Howarth and Professor Steven Griggs titled Heathrow's third runway won't fly. 
• Read the Independent article The success of Syriza in Greece has been driven by Marxism, populism and yes - Essex University. 
• Read The Conversation article by Professor David Howarth titled Boris Island is sunk but it may help other airports expand.

• Subjectivity and valuation in community economies (ESRC, 2020 - 2021)
• Exit Polling on Effectiveness and Research of Bradwell B Public Consultation Event (BECG, 2020)
• The Legacy of Discourse Studies: Current Applications and the Future of the Essex School in Ideology and Discourse Analysis (ESRC, 2018 -2019)
• Timebanking in Essex (ESRC, 2016-2018)
• Collaborative Governance in Cities under Austerity: An Eight-case Comparative Study (ESRC, 2014)
• The prospects for sustainable aviation in the UK (ESRC, 2010)