Examining the Public Acceptability of Transportation Policy Through the Lens of Positioning Theory. A Case of the City Council Debate in Kraków, Poland

Michał Bukowski

doi:10.18290/rns22504.6

Michał Bukowski Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7336-453X

DOI: https://doi.org/10.18290/rns22504.6

Keywords: policy acceptability, positioning theory, transportation policy, discourse

Abstract

This paper applies positioning analysis to the case study of the extraordinary city council meeting in Kraków devoted to assessing controversial transport policy instruments. Positions are entitlements to perform actions in an episode. The paper explores how actual positioning patterns of pro-policy and anti-policy camps calmed the conflict between them. It is claimed that conflicted parties shared three narratives (storylines) that secured political and public acceptance of the policy, albeit in a non-obvious way.

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