This study examines the nature of political satire on UK and Italian
Undergoing or Enacting Change? Societal Change as Discursive Practice

Summary/Abstract: The range of changes that have been taking place in the ongoing process of European integration is rooted in a complex system of shared beliefs, values and ideals, as well as of diverse perceptions, assumptions and expectations. Against such a complex social, cultural, and geo-political background, the notion of change has been at the heart of position-takings, debates and choices made by European citizens and their representative institutions. For obvious reasons, not all changes can be unanimously accepted, which makes the overall discussions on the pros and cons of proposals for change a constant and valuable feature that contributes to shaping EU institutional discourse at all levels. The aim of this study has been to capture and explore the shifting interpretations of change as a socio-political paradigm and a discursive strategy in EU policy-making and policy-reviewing documents. The analysis has focused on identifying competing perspectives and representations of change as a positive vs. negative challenge (i.e. as a valuable opportunity or as a potential danger), as a randomly occurring Agentless process vs. a deliberately pursued institutional and popular goal. Methodologically, a major emphasis has been on the conceptualization of change articulated at the interface of semantic and pragmatic levels of discourse in terms of the interaction of participant roles. The use of a pragma-semantic approach to change as a phenomenon, process and goal, has made it possible to establish relevant correlations between the discourse of change and the change of discourse which have been manifest in a wide range of EU documents over the last ten years. A significant finding is that the change-related discourses of EU documents are often meant not only to describe changes, but also to evaluate these changes in terms of their causes, effects and feedback of those experiencing them.

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