Outrage without Consequences? Post-Snowden Discourses and Governmental Practice in Germany

In 2013 Edward Snowden’s disclosures of mass surveillance performed by US intelligence agencies seriously irritated politicians and citizens around the globe. This holds particularly true for privacy-sensitive communities in Germany. However, while the public was outraged, intelligence and security...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Stefan Steiger, Wolf J. Schünemann, Katharina Dimmroth
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Cogitatio 2017-03-01
Series:Media and Communication
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/814
id doaj-9a7b80c65d004dbeb587b6e17671f981
record_format Article
spelling doaj-9a7b80c65d004dbeb587b6e17671f9812020-11-25T02:32:44ZengCogitatioMedia and Communication2183-24392017-03-015171610.17645/mac.v5i1.814444Outrage without Consequences? Post-Snowden Discourses and Governmental Practice in GermanyStefan Steiger0Wolf J. Schünemann1Katharina Dimmroth2Institute of Political Science, Heidelberg University, GermanyInstitute of Social Sciences, Hildesheim University, GermanyInstitute of Political Science, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen, GermanyIn 2013 Edward Snowden’s disclosures of mass surveillance performed by US intelligence agencies seriously irritated politicians and citizens around the globe. This holds particularly true for privacy-sensitive communities in Germany. However, while the public was outraged, intelligence and security cooperation between the United States and Germany has been marked by continuity instead of disruption. The rather insubstantial debate over a so-called “No-Spy-Agreement” between the United States and Germany is just one telling example of the disconnect between public discourse and governmental action, as is the recent intelligence service regulation. This article considers why and where the “Snowden effect” has been lost on different discursive levels. We analyze and compare parliamentary and governmental discourses in the two years after the Snowden revelations by using the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) to dissect the group-specific statements and interpretive schemes in 287 official documents by the German Bundestag, selected ministries and agencies within the policy subsystem. These will be analyzed in reference to actual governmental practice.https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/814cyber securitydiscourse analysisdispositive analysisGerman–US intelligence cooperationsurveillance
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Stefan Steiger
Wolf J. Schünemann
Katharina Dimmroth
spellingShingle Stefan Steiger
Wolf J. Schünemann
Katharina Dimmroth
Outrage without Consequences? Post-Snowden Discourses and Governmental Practice in Germany
Media and Communication
cyber security
discourse analysis
dispositive analysis
German–US intelligence cooperation
surveillance
author_facet Stefan Steiger
Wolf J. Schünemann
Katharina Dimmroth
author_sort Stefan Steiger
title Outrage without Consequences? Post-Snowden Discourses and Governmental Practice in Germany
title_short Outrage without Consequences? Post-Snowden Discourses and Governmental Practice in Germany
title_full Outrage without Consequences? Post-Snowden Discourses and Governmental Practice in Germany
title_fullStr Outrage without Consequences? Post-Snowden Discourses and Governmental Practice in Germany
title_full_unstemmed Outrage without Consequences? Post-Snowden Discourses and Governmental Practice in Germany
title_sort outrage without consequences? post-snowden discourses and governmental practice in germany
publisher Cogitatio
series Media and Communication
issn 2183-2439
publishDate 2017-03-01
description In 2013 Edward Snowden’s disclosures of mass surveillance performed by US intelligence agencies seriously irritated politicians and citizens around the globe. This holds particularly true for privacy-sensitive communities in Germany. However, while the public was outraged, intelligence and security cooperation between the United States and Germany has been marked by continuity instead of disruption. The rather insubstantial debate over a so-called “No-Spy-Agreement” between the United States and Germany is just one telling example of the disconnect between public discourse and governmental action, as is the recent intelligence service regulation. This article considers why and where the “Snowden effect” has been lost on different discursive levels. We analyze and compare parliamentary and governmental discourses in the two years after the Snowden revelations by using the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) to dissect the group-specific statements and interpretive schemes in 287 official documents by the German Bundestag, selected ministries and agencies within the policy subsystem. These will be analyzed in reference to actual governmental practice.
topic cyber security
discourse analysis
dispositive analysis
German–US intelligence cooperation
surveillance
url https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/article/view/814
work_keys_str_mv AT stefansteiger outragewithoutconsequencespostsnowdendiscoursesandgovernmentalpracticeingermany
AT wolfjschunemann outragewithoutconsequencespostsnowdendiscoursesandgovernmentalpracticeingermany
AT katharinadimmroth outragewithoutconsequencespostsnowdendiscoursesandgovernmentalpracticeingermany
_version_ 1724818154556751872