The blame game and backstage politics
The blame game and backstage politics
This chapter focuses on the blame game in governing elite networks between ministers, chiefs of staff, special advisers, and senior civil servants. We refer to this elite group as ‘the court’. We distinguish between the ‘backstage’ politics of the court and ‘front stage’ politics played out in the media spotlight, elections, parliament, and the TV studio. Section 2 of this chapter outline an interpretive approach that focuses on the patterns of actions and beliefs and on the contingencies that bear down on the actions of governing elites. We describe our historical ethnographic method, and the sources on which we have drawn. In Section 3, we present a vignette of the Covid crisis in the UK, focusing on the blame game around Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. In Section 4, we discuss what our vignette contributes to our understanding of the blame game and its many and significant consequences. Finally, in Section 5, we suggest that the chapter contributes to the analytical, methodological, and personal gaps in the study of blame.
Blame, governance, Covid-19, Accountability, scapegoating
131-156
Boswell, John
34bad0df-3d4d-40ce-948f-65871e3d783c
Rhodes, R.A.W.
cdbfb699-ba1a-4ff0-ba2c-060626f72948
9 July 2024
Boswell, John
34bad0df-3d4d-40ce-948f-65871e3d783c
Rhodes, R.A.W.
cdbfb699-ba1a-4ff0-ba2c-060626f72948
Boswell, John and Rhodes, R.A.W.
(2024)
The blame game and backstage politics.
In,
Flinders, Matthew, Hinterleitner, Markus, Rhodes, R.A.W., Weaver, R. Kent and Diminova, Gergana
(eds.)
The Politics and Governance of Blame in an Era of Uncertainty.
Oxford.
Oxford University Press, .
Record type:
Book Section
Abstract
This chapter focuses on the blame game in governing elite networks between ministers, chiefs of staff, special advisers, and senior civil servants. We refer to this elite group as ‘the court’. We distinguish between the ‘backstage’ politics of the court and ‘front stage’ politics played out in the media spotlight, elections, parliament, and the TV studio. Section 2 of this chapter outline an interpretive approach that focuses on the patterns of actions and beliefs and on the contingencies that bear down on the actions of governing elites. We describe our historical ethnographic method, and the sources on which we have drawn. In Section 3, we present a vignette of the Covid crisis in the UK, focusing on the blame game around Matt Hancock, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. In Section 4, we discuss what our vignette contributes to our understanding of the blame game and its many and significant consequences. Finally, in Section 5, we suggest that the chapter contributes to the analytical, methodological, and personal gaps in the study of blame.
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 2023
Published date: 9 July 2024
Keywords:
Blame, governance, Covid-19, Accountability, scapegoating
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 482347
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/482347
PURE UUID: dc90aeaf-8aa4-4ab9-82d6-aeba8a6aedb0
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 27 Sep 2023 16:41
Last modified: 13 Sep 2024 01:47
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Contributors
Editor:
Matthew Flinders
Editor:
Markus Hinterleitner
Editor:
R.A.W. Rhodes
Editor:
R. Kent Weaver
Editor:
Gergana Diminova
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