The politics of blame avoidance in China
A review of the field
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23310016 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yongshun Cai (0000-0003-2469-5743, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Publication date | 2026-07-31 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | China Information (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0920-203X • E-ISSN: 1741-590X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0920203x261468507 |
| OpenAlex | W7172004986 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 66 |
Blame avoidance by governments and officials is common across various political systems. An increasing body of literature analyses the methods of blame avoidance utilized by both central and local governments, as well as local officials in China. This article reviews existing studies on blame avoidance in China, detailing the motivations, strategies, and limitations of these approaches. It highlights the commonalities and differences between government blame avoidance in China and in other contexts. The article also identifies gaps in the current literature, particularly the limited research on the effectiveness of blame-avoidance strategies and their implications for governance in China.
Blame · China · Corporate governance · Field (mathematics) · Government (linguistics) · Politics · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Policy Transfer and Learning · Regulation and Compliance Studies
Political Survival
Decentralized Authoritarianism in China
China's “Soft” Centralization
What happens when transparency meets blame-avoidance?
State Capacity and Local Agent Control in China
Understanding Blame Politics in China's Decentralized System of Environmental Governance
Reassessing Trust in the Central Government
Dismantling the Welfare State?
Unpacking the accountability cube and its relationship with blame avoidance
The Interactive Effect of Extrinsic Controls and Public Service Motivation on Blame Avoidance
The Sentinel State
State and Agents in China
Political trust and public support for propaganda in China
China's Media Censorship
Framing as an Information Control Strategy in Times of Crisis
China’s Weibo
Framing Effects and Comparative Social Policy Reform
Political Context and Citizen Information
The political impacts of land expropriation in China
Legislative choice of regulatory forms
Propaganda and Blame Attribution during Economic Downturns
The discursive micro-politics of blame avoidance
Discursive strategies of blame avoidance in government
Inequality Attribution and Political Participation
Performance Legitimacy, State Autonomy and China's Economic Miracle
Accepting Authoritarianism
Is the Government to Blame? An Experimental Test of How Partisanship Shapes Perceptions of Performance and Responsibility
When blame avoidance meets transparency
The Politics of Blame Avoidance
When are governmental blaming strategies effective? How blame, source and trust effects shape citizens’ acceptance of EU sanctions against democratic backsliding
The Risk Game and the Blame Game
Citizen blame attributions for government fiscal crises
Information Dilemmas and Blame‐Avoidance Strategies
Anticipatory and reactive forms of blame avoidance
When “Fake News” Becomes Real
How Soft Propaganda Persuades
Authoritarian cue effect of state repression
China's Strategic Censorship
Who's Responsible for the Economy? The Formation and Consequences of Responsibility Attributions
Sources of Authoritarian Responsiveness
Power Structure and Regime Resilience
Juking the Stats? Authoritarian Information Problems in China
The 1994 Tax Reform and Its Impact on China's Rural Fiscal Structure
Supervision by Public Opinion” or by Government Officials? Media Criticism and Central-Local Government Relations in China
The State Owes Us
Avoiding Blame
The Mandate of Heaven and Performance Legitimation in Historical and Contemporary China
Diversion of public criticism and the politics of blame avoidance in China
Partisanship, blame avoidance behaviours and voter reactions to allegations of political misconduct
Why Resource-poor Dictators Allow Freer Media
Social Policy and Regime Legitimacy
How the Chinese Government Fabricates Social Media Posts for Strategic Distraction, Not Engaged Argument
Delegated Censorship
Selective responsiveness
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |