Blame avoidance in hard times: complex governance structures and the COVID-19 pandemic
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In this article , the authors investigated how governments shift blame during large-scale, prolonged crises and found that blame diffusion patterns vary considerably across phases and that blame spills out of the political system when fuzzy governance structures "lose their bite".Abstract:
Abstract This article investigates how governments shift blame during large-scale, prolonged crises. While existing research shows that governments can effectively diffuse blame through ‘fuzzy’ governance structures, less is known about blame diffusion patterns during severe crises when citizens widely expect governments to assume leadership. The article develops expectations on how blame diffusion patterns – consisting of blame-shifting onto lower-level government units, citizens and experts – look and differ in fuzzy governance structures (the political courant normal) and in consolidated governance structures (when governments are called on to consolidate responsibility). The article then tests this theoretical argument with a within-unit longitudinal study of the blame diffusion patterns employed by the Swiss Federal Council (FC) during press conferences held during the COVID-19 pandemic. The period under analysis (March–December 2020) is divided into three phases characterised by different governance structures due to the FC’s enactment of emergency law. The analysis reveals that blame diffusion patterns vary considerably across phases and that blame spills out of the political system when fuzzy governance structures ‘lose their bite’. These findings are relevant for our understanding of democratic governance under pressure.read more
Citations
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When do decision makers listen (less) to experts? The Swiss government's implementation of scientific advice during the COVID ‐19 crisis
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TL;DR: In this article , the authors analyse Finnish and Swedish parliamentary debates on the Nordic border restrictions from the perspective of the arguments on the basis of which the restrictions are defended or criticised during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Analysing the ‘follow the science’ rhetoric of government responses to COVID-19
TL;DR: This paper examined why leaders make such claims using Christopher Hood's (2011) blame avoidance theory and identified the types of blame avoidance strategies used for issues such as mass event cancellation, border closures, face masks, and in-person learning.
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Motivations underlining the “blame avoidance dilemma”: The effect on street-level bureaucrats during a crisis
TL;DR: The authors found that both public service motivation (PSM) and operating policies can drive local government leaders to eliminate the blame avoidance dilemma in crisis times and that operating policies negatively moderate the relationship between PSM and the risk decisions.
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