Visual Culture and Public Policy

Victor Bekkers is Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.Rebecca Moody is Assistant Professor of Public Administration and Public Policy at Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

'‘Performance’ has two sides of the same coin. It is ‘results’ and ‘putting something on stage’. This book brings these two sides together in a very smart way. Whether it is the policy cycle, or its governance and polity, the visual dimension becomes so dominant that reality risks to become the derivative. Convincing pictures show and prove the role of visual perception. In this book "What you see is really what you get".' - Geert Bouckaert, President of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences, KU Leuven, Belgium.'In this powerful and important book, Viktor Bekkers and Rebecca Moody examine myriad influences of visualization on the content and course of public policy. As visual culture is more routinely and pervasively embedded in policy practices, the authors demonstrate persuasively through nine vivid, carefully selected cases, how visual culture is used by policy experts and stakeholders to frame--and shift the framing of--key policy problems and actions. As Bekkers and Moody argue cogently, scholars and practitioners in public administration and policy must update their understanding of the policy process as textuality gives way to visuality.' - Jane Fountain, Professor, University of Massachusetts, USA.

• 1. Introduction: Living in a World of Images 2. Visual Events and Visual Technologies: A Brief Historical Overview 3. The Power to Visualize 4. Visual Events and the Policy Process 5. Research Strategy 6. Agenda Setting: Setting the Wheels in Motion 7. Policy Design and Decision Making: Unravelling Complexity 8. Policy Evaluation: Who Is to Blame? 9. Visual Culture and the Policy Process: Towards a Conclusion 10. Reflection: Towards a Visual Polity