1 Title: Critical Discourse Analysis in Political Studies: an illustrative analysis of the „empowerment‟ agenda Author: Michael Farrelly Author information: Michael Farrelly is a researcher at the Open University. University address: Development Policy and Practice Open University Walton Hall Milton Keynes MK7 6AA UK Email: m.farrelly@open.ac.uk Words in article (excluding cover sheet, title, abstract and references): 3279 Acknowledgements: The author would like to thank Norman Fairclough, Lucy Mayblin and the anonymous reviewers for comments on the draft of this article.