Narrating for representation policies: the discursive institutionalization of indigenous political representation in Australia & Singapore

How and when is indigenous political representation institutionalised? This paper contends that such institutionalization occurs when there is philosophical agreement of the need to do so across actors. It develops Discursive Institutionalization in concert with the Narrative Policy Framework to demonstrate DI’s philosophical contestations as structuring both the deployment of NPF’s policy narrative strategies and their effectiveness. Comparing the indigenous representation proposals of Australia’s Voice to Parliament and Singapore’s Group Representation Constituencies, the article illustrates how they are relied upon by actors in “compound” and “simple” polities to obfuscate and convey, respectively, the policy narratives that act upon prospects for greater representation. Drawing on parliamentary Hansard records, public statements by policymakers, and cabinet papers, it addresses the narrative construction affecting the real-world policy problem of indigenous and minority representation. It concludes that examining national narratives and the coterminous macro-level paradigms using the NPF and relating it to DI as an “institutionalism” explaining change offers a compelling explanation for policy stasis/advancements in representation policies.