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The Politics of Blame-Seeking: Strategic Antagonism, Effective Alignment and Benefitting From Backlash.
- Source :
-
Political Studies . May2024, p1. - Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- Why would a politician ever want to be blamed? Under what contextual conditions might blame-seeking behaviour emerge as a rational strategy? What tactics, tools and strategies might they deploy? Where is the empirical evidence of blame-seeking in action and why does it matter? These are the questions this article engages with as it challenges the long-standing ‘self-evident truth’ within political science that blame-is-bad. We argue that a new ‘blame game’ has emerged in which blame generation is deployed not solely to taint opponents but also to demonstrate the blame-seeker’s willingness to challenge convention, break the rules, or side with the marginalized. In a broader context characterized by democratic dissatisfaction, anti-political sentiment and affective polarization, we suggest that blame-seeking assumes a powerful symbolic and performative dimension. Antagonizing certain sections of society and then harnessing the backlash provides a powerful political strategy which challenges traditional scholarly assumptions about credit and blame existing in a zero-sum relationship. We illustrate these arguments using the case of Boris Johnson’s rise to the British premiership. A focus on blame-seeking, we suggest, expands our understanding of what politicians say and do to achieve their goals in polarized political contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 00323217
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Political Studies
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 177122010
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/00323217241251700