Blame Game Research Articles

The Policy Blame Game: How Polarization Distorts Democratic Accountability across the Local, State, and Federal Level

AbstractDemocratic accountability relies on voters to punish their representatives for policies they dislike. Yet, a separation-of-powers system can make it hard to know who is to blame, and partisan biases further distort voters’ evaluations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, precautionary policies were put into place sometimes by governors, sometimes by mayors, and sometimes by no one at all, allowing us to identify when voters hold out-party versus in-party politicians responsible for policies. With a survey spanning 48 states, we test our theory that attitudes toward policies and parties intersect to determine when selective attribution takes place. We find that as individuals increasingly oppose a policy, they are more likely to blame whichever level of government is led by the out-party. This is most pronounced among partisans with strong in-party biases. We provide important insight into the mechanisms that drive selective attribution and the conditions under which democratic accountability is at risk.

Exploring Failure Orientation : Its Mediating Role in Multidisciplinary Teams of the Petroleum Industry

Several factors that affect team effectiveness are listed in the literature on teams. This paper identified a new construct, failure orientation, which measured the collective capacity of a team to cope, learn, and develop from team failures. Qualitative research identified some interesting features of the failure orientation concept and its mediating role in teams input-mediator-output-input (I-M-O-I) model. The context was set in the Indian upstream petroleum industry, where failures are quite normal in oil-field operations. Learnings from such failures helped teams move forward to success in finding and producing crude oil and natural gas. The research methodology of conducting in-depth interviews of senior team leads and team members in two Indian public sector petroleum exploration companies was 80% of the industry activity. The findings enabled the development of a conceptual framework of failure orientation, which is a vital determinant of team effectiveness. The paper identified three categories (factors) of failure orientation for operationalizing this new construct: failure orientation in such multidisciplinary teams, that is, escapism, blame game, and collective analysis. The paper also positioned these as mediators in the I-M-O-I model of teams. Operationalization of the new construct would help practicing managers deal with teams encountering failures, which are frequent in this economically-vital petroleum industry. Further research with factor analysis could enrich the team literature significantly.

The blame game of the US baby formula crisis

AbstractThe United States cannot meet the demand for infant formula. The nation is currently experiencing a problem due to the industry being controlled by a small number of enterprises, states relying on a single supplier, and a ban on importing infant formula from other nations. The four major corporations’ control 89% of the domestic infant formula market creating an industry monopoly within the United States. Second, the dependence of separate states on a single baby formula provider is the cause of the infant formula shortage. In exchange for granting monopolies to formula producers inside specific areas, the federal government is given price cuts on baby formula goods, enabling it to pay for the acquisition. Finally, the United States's inability to import infant formula has significantly exacerbated the current scarcity. However, in the meanwhile, President Joe Biden's administration has put stopgap measures in place to end this shortage, like loosening limits on imports from abroad, but these measures are unlikely to provide long‐term remedies. A multi‐level strategy with long‐lasting structural adjustments is required to avert future infant formula shortages in the United States, but for the time being, caregivers must find individual‐level solutions to meet their children's nutritional needs.

The blame game: how video evidence changes narratives of misogynistic violence in sports discourse

ABSTRACT Violence against women is prevalent both in and outside the sports world, and dozens of professional athletes have been accused, although the reactions and consequences to such accusations are not always the same. This study examines three instances of athletes committing misogynistic violence and the effect that video evidence has on sports media discourse. We look at a wide range of online media sources and print newspaper articles (n = 153) to see how the discourse changes after video evidence has been released publicly. We rely on feminist theory, hegemonic masculinity, and mediated witnessing as theoretical frameworks to conduct a critical discourse analysis. Video evidence of violence against women by athletes alters the way sports journalists cover them by countering hegemonic narratives about responsibility, player value, rehabilitation, and procedure. This study builds on previous scholarship about how evidentiary video can alter the way sports media subjugate women and perpetuate hegemonic masculinity.

The blame game - individuals vs organisations.

The blame game - individuals vs organisations.

Politicizing the Pandemic: COVID-19 and its Impact on the Nigerian Economy

This study aims to examine the connection between international politics that characterized the outbreak of COVID-19, mainly between the United States of America and China and the devastating impact of the second wave outbreak on the Nigerian economy. At the initial stage of the pandemic on the Chinese mainland, the economy of China experienced a significant decline. The efficacy of China’s response to COVID-19 led to a fractional economic recovery during the pandemic. However, the internationalization of COVID-19 was greeted with a second wave in most advanced countries, such as the United States of America, Italy, and the United Kingdom, among others. The low level of preparedness and poor responses were comparably low in second-wave countries compared to China. It also examines the failure of the United States of America and China to develop a global health framework against COVID-19, as well as the Blame Game Politics that eventually played out. The politics of shifting blame between the United States of America and China, coupled with poor responses against COVID-19 in most Western countries, culminated in a devastating outbreak in low-income countries. Nigeria’s COVID-19 experience severely affected the critical sectors of the economy. However, this awkward situation has heightened Nigeria’s status as a major economic victim of the pandemic in Africa. The study utilized primary and secondary sources of data. The primary data were generated through the utility of Key Informant Interviews (KIIs), and the secondary data were generated from textbooks, journal articles, and web-based materials. The data generated were analyzed using the logic induction method and thematic analysis. The study recommends rejigging the Nigerian economic framework and improving revenues through an Agro-based economy.

Blame games and democratic responsiveness

AbstractThe link between opinion and policy is central to the functioning of representative democracy. Democracies are responsive to their citizens’ preferences if citizens can influence governments’ policy output. This article conceptualizes political blame games about policy controversies as venues of democratic responsiveness to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the opinion‐policy link in policy‐heavy, conflictual democracies. The article shows how political actors convert public feedback to a policy controversy into blame game interactions, which in turn lead to political and policy responses by the government. A comparative‐historical analysis of nine blame games in the United Kingdom, Germany and Switzerland reveals how institutions structure blame game interactions, and thus influence a political system's responsiveness during blame games. The analysis suggests that an important, yet neglected, expression of democratic quality of political systems is their ability to translate blame game interactions into policy responses. The study of blame games as venues of democratic responsiveness thus provides a new conceptual tool for assessing the health of representative democracies in more conflictual times.

Discursive Strategies of Blaming: The Language of Judgment and Political Protest Online.

Modern politics is permeated by blame games-symbolic struggles over the blameworthiness or otherwise of various social actors. In this article, we develop a framework for identifying different strategies of blaming that protesters use on social media to criticize and delegitimize governments and political leaders. We draw on the systemic functional linguistic theory of Appraisal to distinguish between blame attributions based on negative judgments of the target's (1) capacity, such as references to their incompetence and policy failures; (2) veracity, questioning their truthfulness or honesty via references to deceitful character or dishonest acts and utterances; (3) propriety, questioning their moral standing by references to, for instance, corruption; and (4) tenacity, suggesting that the politicians are not dependable due to, for example, dithering. We add to this a further threefold distinction based on whether blaming is focused on the target's (1) bad character, (2) bad behavior, or (3) negative outcomes that the target either caused or did not prevent from happening. To illustrate the approach, we analyze a corpus of replies by Twitter users to tweets by British government ministers about two highly contentious issues, Covid-19 and Brexit, in 2020-2021. We suggest that the methodology outlined here could provide a useful avenue for systematically revealing and comparing a variety of realizations of blaming in large datasets of online conflict talk, thereby providing a more fine-grained understanding of the practices of protest and delegitimation in modern politics.

From anticipatory strategies to reactive blame games in multi-level settings: the role of structure and politics in stability and policy change

AbstractStudies of multi-level blame avoidance strategies generally assume that (1) governments prefer to shift responsibility to other levels and (2) an unclear distribution of formal responsibilities complicates blame allocation to a single actor. Considering the temporal location of such strategies – in anticipation or as a reaction to adverse events – the article tests these assumptions. Drawing on the case of air quality policy in Mexico City, the article uses causal process tracing to develop the mechanism leading to an anticipatory strategy and its unfolding. If the distribution of responsibilities on connected policy instruments is clear and major political actors share power, then government levels from different parties engage in a joint anticipatory strategy to avoid crisis and keep stability. The mechanism breakdown leads to reactive behaviour and policy change. Contextual changes redistributing power can destabilise the arrangements, leading to reactive blame games, fostering policy change.

Changing the blame game: Associations between relationship mindfulness, loneliness, negative partner attributions, and subsequent conflict

Given the important associations between couple conflict and various physical and mental health outcomes, it is essential to explore factors that may catalyze or exacerbate the frequency and impact of conflict in romantic relationships. One such factor may be relationship mindfulness, or the tendency to have a nonjudgmental awareness of one’s experiences in romantic relationships. Previous research has demonstrated a link between relationship mindfulness and various relational outcomes, but its association with relationship conflict has not yet been explored. Additionally, the current study sought to explore the mechanisms that link relationship mindfulness and relational outcomes. Based on previous research connecting conflict to negative partner attributions, the study examined how relationship mindfulness may predict conflict through negative partner attributions. Furthermore, the study aimed to incorporate loneliness as a potential mediator between relationship mindfulness and negative partner attributions. A sample of 116 different-sex middle-aged married couples were recruited to complete an online assessment. Using an actor–partner interdependence mediation model, the results indicated several significant associations among relationship mindfulness, negative partner attributions, loneliness, and relationship conflict. For example, a significant indirect effect was found; that is, female relationship mindfulness was associated with decreased relationship conflict via its prior association with both male loneliness and additionally through male loneliness and subsequent male negative partner attributions. The results indicate that by employing interventions that increase relationship mindfulness, it may be possible to both reduce loneliness and encourage more charitable partner attributions which, in turn, may reduce couple conflict.

Framing safety of women in public transport: A media discourse analysis of sexual harassment cases in Bangladesh

This paper analyzes the role of print media in framing incidences of sexual harassment in public transport; particularly in the context of Bangladesh, where gender-based violence is highly prevalent in the public sphere. This article uses Douglas’ cultural theory to reflect on media practices and its institutional power to reframe the social problem through risk and blame attribution. We conducted a discourse analysis of 71 news articles extracted from four of the widely circulated and influential newspapers of Bangladesh. Our findings reveal that the hegemonic discourse of gender-based violence in public transport is systemic and/or primarily reliant on legal recourse. By contrast, discourses presenting sexual harassment as symptomatic of broader gender inequality is less frequent. Moreover, these media platforms belong to an assemblage of patriarchal social-power holders that collaborate with established law and order to facilitate a blame game, thereby relieving the same stakeholders of ownership and accountability. Given the power of news media in constructing meta-narratives of safety (and nudging policymakers), journalists must tread responsibly on issues of blame, women’s safety, and their rights to the city.

US – China Priorities in the 21st Century

The paper evaluates the priorities of the US and China with regards to economic, geopolitical, military technology, and alliance formation. In the economic aspect, we will study China's BRI policy and USA's B3W counter project. The goal of both states in this regard is to dominate the international market. Both the countries are investing in Hyper Sonic technology to gain an upper hand in the Military expanse. The formation of alliances is another clever tactic in the name of establishing mutual security. China's relationship with the US arch-enemy Russia and the Chabahar Port and CPEC projects with Iran and Pakistan respectively appear to be an alarming situation for the US. To counter China's increasing advancement, the US formed QUAD and AUKUS with India, Japan, Australia, and the UK, along with the Reciprocal Access Agreement to limit the escalating approach of China. The blame game between the US and China regarding the COVID-19 pandemic also sparked many controversies. The increased threat perceptions and more crucial political elements between the two powers are dynamics of global hegemony. Analytical and Descriptive methods of research are applied in the paper.

Heteropatriarchy's Blame Game: Reading Genesis 37 with Izitabane during COVID 19

The COVID 19 pandemic compounded the insecurity and vulnerability experienced by LGBTIQ+ people who remain confined to their family homes during the lockdown in South Africa. LGBTIQ+ people are often referred to as Izitabane, a term that gives derogatory expression to the othering, stigmatisation and exclusion experienced by LGBTIQ+ people in African contexts in general and African faith communities in particular. As the pandemic unfolded, faith leaders reached out to their flock via social media through online worship services and daily devotions. In some instances, these devotions sought "theological clarification" for the pandemic and in the process evoked violence towards the LGBTIQ+ community who were held responsible. In order to engage critically and creatively with these life-denying realities and to search for impulses of hope and life, an episode from the Joseph narrative found in Gen 37 has been appropriated as a reflective surface in the development process of Contextual Bible Study resources engaging the African faith and sexuality landscape. Building on insights gained from employing the tools of Queer Biblical Hermeneutics to read Gen 37, the final part of the essay describes the Contextual Bible Study developed jointly by the Ujamaa Centre at UKZN and Inclusive and Affirming Ministries and offers it as a resource for Izitabane to resist normalisation, correction and annihilation when the Biblical text is used in a life-denying manner.

Understanding policy framework for slum governance in a developing country

PurposeSlum discourse has attracted significant research interest among scholars. The study examined the policy framework for slum governance in Ghana with the goal of offering recommendations to structure slum management.Design/methodology/approachAnchored on exploratory qualitative methodology, the study utilized a purposive sampling technique to select 18 respondents from the major ministries for in-depth interviews.FindingsThe results showed an absence of a central national policy for slum governance because slums development has received less national priority. It also revealed a lack of coordination among the sector ministries in policy formulation, which tends to create a blame game among them. Further, it was found that slum programs are driven by media-political and non-governmental actors.Research limitations/implicationsThe conclusion and the outcome of this study cannot be generalized as to represent the whole ministries in Ghana in the space of slums management due to the qualitative approach. A recommendation is offered for the creation of a separate authority to take charge of the slums in Ghana.Practical implicationsThis study elucidates a context-specific understanding of the policy framework for slum governance, which tends to shape public knowledge and policy landscape.Originality/valueAs a novelty, the findings of the study advanced the sparse literature in the domain and, at the same time, helped politicians and policymakers understand the need for a dedicated policy for slums.

The Impact of Covid-19 Blame Game Towards Anti-Asian Discrimination Phenomena

The purpose of this paper is to explain how the relationship between foreign policies based on the 'Blame Game' could affect the social conditions of society, especially in terms of discrimination against people of Asian descent. The act of accusing each other by Western countries against China over who should actually be responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic has made international political conditions more tense and heated. China's defensive foreign policy strategy turned out to be aggressive and even creates a distortion of information regarding the truth of the origins of the pandemic. So the result is a Blame Game that is destructive, uncooperative, and actually makes problems unresolved where to deal with a global pandemic requires collective action. This is also leads to the increase of discrimination acts towards Asian community. This paper uses an explanatory-qualitative method, with data collection techniques through literature study. Constructivism theory and the concept of Political Racism are used as an analytical tool to explain how the relationship between the research variable. As the result, political elites create identities through the blaming game on various media platforms especially social media, which impacts on the creation of xenophobic perceptions towards the Asian community.

Study of Student Community Movements Against the Development of a Geothermal Power Plant in Gunung Talang

The purpose of this paper is to explain how the relationship between foreign policies based on the 'Blame Game' could affect the social conditions of society, especially in terms of discrimination against people of Asian descent. The act of accusing each other by Western countries against China over who should actually be responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic has made international political conditions more tense and heated. China's defensive foreign policy strategy turned out to be aggressive and even creates a distortion of information regarding the truth of the origins of the pandemic. So the result is a Blame Game that is destructive, uncooperative, and actually makes problems unresolved where to deal with a global pandemic requires collective action. This is also leads to the increase of discrimination acts towards Asian community. This paper uses an explanatory-qualitative method, with data collection techniques through literature study. Constructivism theory and the concept of Political Racism are used as an analytical tool to explain how the relationship between the research variable. As the result, political elites create identities through the blaming game on various media platforms especially social media, which impacts on the creation of xenophobic perceptions towards the Asian community which lead to discriminatory attitudes and violence both directly and through social media. Therefore, to overcome the structural problems that occur, it is necessary to have the willingness of each political elite to be open and cooperative regarding the problem of investigating the origin of the Covid-19 virus. So that will ease tensions between countries, reducing negative stigma, and the number of discriminatory behavior towards Asian descent community during this Pandemic.

The blame game in a child abuse incident in Vietnamese online news media: A framing analysis

This study examined the Vietnamese online news media discourse of a child abuse incident at a private autism center. Using framing analysis, the study found the news media frame the child abuse dominantly as a professional misconduct. The study detailed how the media’s blame was directed to the abusive staff and the uninformed parents, not institutional governance and policy loopholes. The study argued that the Vietnamese media focused on constructing ideologies of parental responsibilization and autonomous citizenship rather than state authorities’ accountability.

Mediated Scandals and Blame Game: Hina Rabbani Khar, the First Pakistani Woman F..

Using media framing as the guiding lens and drawing on the insights from qualitative content analysis, this study explores Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s first female foreign minister’s mediated scandal, gendered portrayals, and their potential impact on the audience. The data comprises 59 news stories, articles, and broadcasts from different channels collected during the first 16 months of her tenure. Results show that the media seldom focused on political agenda; instead jeopardized Khar’s position, profiled her to be in illicit relationships with Bilawal Bhutto Zardari that eclipsed her political achievements. For the international media has been way ahead of the national media, their preferences of sustaining gender polarities,therefore, transcend geographical boundaries. Change in the media’s approach of the women politicians’ coverage (especially those elevated to higher political positions) is, thus, desirable for confirming equitable media portrayals and accepting their position as equal to men in politics.

The Status Quo Problem and the Role of Consumers Against Antimicrobial Resistance

Antimicrobial resistance occurs when microorganisms survive exposure and proliferate in the presence of therapeutic levels of antimicrobial drugs. Because antimicrobial resistance is increasing, it is vital to encourage consumers to change and adopt smarter antibiotic behaviour. Despite World Health Organization's efforts to combat antibiotic resistance and their emphasis on the importance of public involvement, the role of consumers has been overlooked. The manifold responsibility for antibiotic resistance extends across different actors, including food retailers and consumers. Given this shared responsibility, a blame game arises and no action occurs. To overcome this status quo situation, we draw attention to the potential role of individual responsibility and social pressure to encourage consumers to adopt smart antibiotic behaviour but also to empower them. Conditions must be put in place to enable consumers' critical evaluation of the health-related and ethical aspects of their food choices. Such behaviour can be facilitated using digital innovations to support informed choices, in store and online.

‘It’s the EU’s fault!’ strategies of blame avoidance in Andrej Babiš’s discourse on the conflict-of-interest case

ABSTRACT The article investigates strategies of blame avoidance in the discourse of the Czech Prime Minister (PM), Andrej Babiš, on the conflict-of-interest case over the misuse of European Union (EU) funds. Taking a critical discursive perspective and working with a dataset of Babiš’s public pronouncements on his conflict of interest during the period of 2019–2021, the study uncovers the particular ways of arguing, framing, denying, characterising social actors, legitimising and manipulating that Babiš exploited when trying to avoid blame in the conflict of interest case. It reveals that the conflict of interest case has provided opportunities for the Czech PM to play a multi-dimensional blame game against the EU, orchestrate a discursive battle with the EU and invoke nationalist feelings. We argue that this discursive patterning signals a departure from his hitherto pragmatic approach to the EU, with Babiš increasingly radicalizing his explicitly exclusionary construction of the EU, promulgating anti-EU sentiment and countenancing the polarization between the EU on the one hand and the Czech Republic on the other.