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.

中文翻译：

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形象在欧盟政治中的作用

本文的目的是促进我们对视觉话语在日常欧盟 (EU) 政治中的作用的理解。这篇文章提出了一个分析框架，允许从四方面看待图像在政治中的作用；即，图像作为：（1）支撑行动者利益的标志，（2）集体意义制定的表现，（3）统治手段和（4）在政治中包括/排除行动者和思想的秩序手段。这篇文章放大了欧盟委员会的视觉话语，并分析了来自三个总司旗舰杂志的图像。文章认为，委员会坚持——而且越来越坚持——允许委员会制定政策议程和制定政策选择的视觉话语，同时避免在欧盟政治的其他主要参与者中制造对手。