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The discursive micro-politics of blame avoidance: unpacking the language of government blame games

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  • Sten Hansson

    (University of Tartu)

Abstract

Policymakers often engage in blame avoidance behaviour that affects the ways in which they structure their organisations, adopt policies and operating routines, and present their work to the public. The linguistic aspects of such behaviour have received relatively little academic attention. In this paper, I seek to advance blame avoidance scholarship by introducing to its analytical toolbox useful conceptual instruments from linguistically informed discourse studies. Based on a multidisciplinary literature review, I show how the discursive study of policy-related blame games is situated within the wider scholarship dealing with a variety of blame phenomena. I provide an inventory of the micro-level building blocks of blame games: discursive strategies of persuasion, and narratives of cause, failure, and scandal. I suggest that by treating government blame games as mediated ‘language games’, policy scholars can complement the analysis of various political variables traditionally discussed in policy literature with detailed understanding of the micro-politics of presentational blame avoidance.

Suggested Citation

  • Sten Hansson, 2018. "The discursive micro-politics of blame avoidance: unpacking the language of government blame games," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 51(4), pages 545-564, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:policy:v:51:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s11077-018-9335-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s11077-018-9335-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Weaver, R. Kent, 1986. "The Politics of Blame Avoidance," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 371-398, October.
    2. Daniel Kahneman & Amos Tversky, 2013. "Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Leonard C MacLean & William T Ziemba (ed.), HANDBOOK OF THE FUNDAMENTALS OF FINANCIAL DECISION MAKING Part I, chapter 6, pages 99-127, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    3. Ching Leong & Michael Howlett, 2017. "On credit and blame: disentangling the motivations of public policy decision-making behaviour," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 50(4), pages 599-618, December.
    4. McGraw, Kathleen M., 1990. "Avoiding Blame: An Experimental Investigation of Political Excuses and Justifications," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 20(1), pages 119-131, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Krause, Tobias Alexander & Ivanov, Igor & Sidki, Marcus, 2023. "Blame or gain? Is institutional trust impacted by the perception of political influence in state-owned enterprises?," Working Paper Series 30, Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Business and Law.
    2. Matt Andrews, 2021. "Successful Failure in Public Policy Work," CID Working Papers 402, Center for International Development at Harvard University.
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