Constructing and Deconstructing the ACP Group: Actors, Strategies and Consequences for Development

This article examines how the AfricanCaribbeanPacific (ACP) Group is constructed and deconstructed in discourse. Positioning Theory is introduced as a theoretical and analytical framework for understanding how social reality is discursively constructed. The article analyses how the ACP Group and other actors are generated and given meaning within various discursive contexts. This discourse is compared with other practices, and the positionings engendered through each are compared. The concept of discursive space is introduced as a mechanism to explain how positionings influence people's actions, and actual and potential consequences for development of the analysed discourses are discussed.