The Roles of Images in EU Politics

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskriftTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to advance our understanding of the role of visual discourse in day-to-day European Union (EU) politics. The article presents an analytical framework allowing for a fourfold view on the roles of images in politics; namely, images as: (1) emblems underpinning actors' interests, (2) representations of collective meaning-making, (3) means of domination and (4) ordering devices for including/excluding actors and ideas in politics. The article zooms in on the EU Commission visual discourse and analyses images from three Directorate-General flagship magazines. The article argues that, the Commission adheres – and increasingly so – to a visual discourse allowing the Commission to set policy agendas and frame policy options, while avoiding creating adversaries among other key actors in EU politics. It also allows for identity-building, while eschewing further estranging publics sceptical of EU supranationalism and keeping political actors in favour of common EU policies on board.

OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftJournal of Common Market Studies
Vol/bind59
Udgave nummer5
Sider (fra-til)1213-1229
Antal sider17
ISSN0021-9886
DOI
StatusUdgivet - sep. 2021

Bibliografisk note

Funding Information:
This work is kindly supported by the Danish Council for Independent Research under Collaborative Research Project Grant No. 12–125297.

Emneord

  • Visual discourse
  • images
  • framing
  • visual discourse
  • identity-building
  • European Commission

Citer dette