Author: Maarten A. Hajer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Keywords: mediatization, making, policy, governance, authoritative
Number of Pages: 274
Published: 2009-10-11
List price: $85.00
ISBN-10: 019928167X
ISBN-13: 9780199281671

The role of the media has become a central part of politics and policy in the twenty-first century. That dominance has led many to suggest a trend of ’dumbing down’: the privileging of style over content. In this provocative new book, Maarten Hajer takes issue with the ’dumbing down’ thesis both on theoretical and empirical grounds. He aims to show how authoritative governance remains possible in crisis-driven circumstances and a highly ’mediatized’ world. The book elaborates a communicative understanding of authority, which, the author argues, can create a