A Discursive Practices Approach to Collective Decision-Making

Using a discursive frame of meaning, Coleman's notions of the power and interests of actors in a collective decision-making process are reoriented to emphasize the power of competing understandings of a policy situation. The contribution of actors to the collective decision-making process has an impact through their association with various idea elements or discursive practices which comprise their cognitive maps. The performance of a computer simulation model of collective decision-making based on these assumptions is examined using cognitive maps and interview data collected from officials who participated in Norwegian oil policy decision-making. The simulation model produced a set of understandings that is more or less similar to the actual public debate on oil policy and a ranking of policy preferences that coincides with the actual decision to begin oil exploration in northern Norway.