ABSTRACT
The constructions and interpretations that underlie knowledge culminate in causal assumptions or if-then constructs in the sense of ‘well-probed belief’, which specify ‘the relationship between variables and consequences’ and include ‘a definitive statement of what will happen’. In political science, debates about the relevance of knowledge have emerged, together with debates about ideas, frames and learning. Emphasis given to a cognitive understanding of ‘reality’ and its distinction from a normative component of knowledge is a clear characteristic of proponents of the knowledge perspective. The approach to knowledge is part of interpretive social sciences in general and interpretative policy analysis in particular. In addition to the heterogeneity of interpretive propositions regarding the relationship between discourse and actors, core terms of post-positivist approaches are used by their proponents differently or interchangeably. This applies to the terms discourse and frames as well as to narratives and storylines.
