PUBLIC JUSTIFICATIONS IN THE PARLIAMENTAR Y KNOWLEDGE MARKET - TYPES OF ARGUMENTS AND STRATEGIES OF JUSTIFICATION IN LEGISLATIVE DEBATES ONSOCIAL-POLICY

Public debates in the German parliament institutionalize an interface between governmental and societal formation of political opinion. In t he final stage of legislative decisionmaking, the members of parliamen t seek public approval for their policy proposals. Comparable to a mar ket situation speakers offer competing normative interpretations. Firs tly, we demonstrate, that the circumstances of parliamentary justifica tions have changed significantly in the last decades, especially in so cial policy. Secondly, the article focuses on the question of how the speakers argumentatively react to this changed situation. We present r esults from an empirical analysis of debates on labor market and famil y policies. The findings include four basic types of arguments and two rhetorical strategies developed to cope with conditions of increased public pressure on the process of political justification.