Policy Controversies and Political Blame Games

Analyses and compares political blame games in Western democracies to show how democratic political systems manage policy controversies.

Markus Hinterleitner (Author)

9781108816441, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 March 2023

264 pages
22.8 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.39 kg

'Markus Hinterleitner offers a very compelling analysis of blame games as 'microcosms of conflictual politics' which is strong in both its theoretical and empirical components. Scholars just as interested students and readers will appreciate this theory-guided empirical research.' Yves Steinebach, Swiss Political Science Review

In modern, policy-heavy democracies, blame games about policy controversies are commonplace. Despite their ubiquity, blame games are notoriously difficult to study. This book elevates them to the place they deserve in the study of politics and public policy. Blame games are microcosms of conflictual politics that yield unique insights into democracies under pressure. Based on an original framework and the comparison of fifteen blame games in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, and the US, it exposes the institutionalized forms of conflict management that democracies have developed to manage policy controversies. Whether failed infrastructure projects, food scandals, security issues, or flawed policy reforms, democracies manage policy controversies in an idiosyncratic manner. This book is addressed not only to researchers and students interested in political conflict in the fields of political science, public policy, public administration, and political communication, but to everyone concerned about the functioning of democracy in more conflictual times. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

List of figures
List of tables
List of abbreviations
1. How political systems manage their policy controversies
2. Blame games in the political sphere
3. Blame games in the UK
4. Blame games in Germany
5. Blame games in Switzerland
6. Mapping the influence of institutional factors
7. Mapping the influence of issue characteristics
8. A typological theory of blame games and their consequences
9. Blame games and their implications for politics and democracy under pressure
References
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Comparative politics [JPB], Politics & government [JP]