FROM ELOQUENT SILENCE TO ACTIONABLE DIRECTIVE: A CRITICAL DISCOURSE ANALYSIS OF UPTAKE FAILURE IN POLICY BRIEFS

Abstract

While sophisticated policy research too often remains unused by
public administrators, a critical failure for evidence-informed
governance, this paper argues that a key, overlooked reason lies not
only in political constraints but in the very language of the
recommendations themselves. Through a Critical Discourse Analysis
of elite policy briefs, using Nigeria's National Blue Economy Strategy
as a paradigmatic case, this study identifies a pervasive discourse of
technocratic abstraction. The analysis reveals how grammatical
choices, turning processes into static objects, omitting clear agents,
and softening urgency, serve to assert authority while ironically
constructing significant cognitive and practical barriers for timepressed executives. By dissecting how this language erases human
agency and dilutes imperative force, the paper concludes by proposing
a linguistically grounded framework for Actionable Drafting,
advocating a discursive shift to restore accountability, sequence
tangible actions, and ultimately facilitate the social practice of
implementation