The Politics of Budget Consolidation in Britain and Germany
The Impact of Blame Avoidance Opportunities
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6408034 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Reimut Zohlnhöfer (0000-0001-7808-9410, Heidelberg University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 1120-1138 |
| Publication date | 2007-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | West European Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0140-2382 • E-ISSN: 1743-9655 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01402380701617498 |
| OpenAlex | W2007493381 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 37 |
| References cited | 37 |
According to important parts of the literature, blame avoidance opportunities, i.e. the necessity and applicability of blame avoidance strategies, may differ between countries according to the respective institutional set-ups and between governing parties according to their programmatic orientation. In countries with many veto actors, a strategy of 'Institutional Cooperation' between these actors is expected to diffuse blame sufficiently to render other blame avoidance strategies obsolete. In contrast, governments in Westminster-style democracies should resort to the more unilateral strategies of presentation, policy design and timing. At the same time, left-wing parties are expected to have an easier time implementing spending cuts while right-wing parties are less vulnerable when proposing tax increases. Evidence from the politics of budget consolidation in Britain and Germany does not corroborate these hypotheses. Instead, it seems that party competition conditions the effects institutions and the partisan complexion of governments have on the politics of blame avoidance
Biology and political orientation · Blame · Consolidation (business · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Veto · Finance · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies · Social Psychology
Zwischen Kooperation und Verweigerung
Claiming Blame and Giving Credit
Parteien
Der lange Schatten der Finanzkrise
Die Kommunikation wohlfahrtsstaatlicher Reformen in vergleichender Perspektive
Patterns of Democracy Matter in the Covid-19 Crisis
Winning Legitimacy and Dodging Blame
Policy knowledge among ‘elite citizens’
Toward a Theory of Political Strategy in Policy Analysis
Honeymoon in the crisis
Unpopular Social Policy Reform and Strategic Communication
How Politics Matter When Policies Change
Unpopular Policies and the Imperative of Justification
Framing Effects and Comparative Social Policy Reform
Taking Stock of the Comparative Literature on the Role of Blame Avoidance Strategies in Social Policy Reform
Communicating austerity measures during times of crisis
Blame avoidance, electoral punishment and the perceptions of risk
Policy instruments and welfare state reform
Welfare by design
How governments strategically time welfare state reform legislation
Sharing the Rewards, Dividing the Costs? The Electoral Consequences of Social Pacts and Legislative Reform in Western Europe
How party linkages shape austerity politics
Blame‐shifting in Times of Permanent Austerity
Claiming blame and giving credit? Unintended effects of how government and opposition frame the Europeanization of welfare
Catchall or Catch and Release? The Electoral Consequences of Social Democratic Parties’ March to the Middle in Western Europe
Social identities, emotions and policy preferences
Roads to Success
Government Responses to Fiscal Austerity
Decentralising competences in multi-level systems
Political Strategies and Fiscal Retrenchment
When less is more
Reconciling Perspectives on Blame Avoidance Behaviour
A Strike against the Left
Why don’t citizens give governments credit when they deliver on electoral pledges
Giving less by doing more? Dynamics of social policy expansion and dismantling in 18 OECD countries
The electoral advantage of the left in times of fiscal adjustment
Electoral accountability, clarity of responsibility and labor market policy
The Major Premiership
Rolling Back the (Welfare) State
Economic and Welfare Policy
Partisan Competition and Welfare State Retrenchment
The Futures of European Capitalism
Dismantling the Welfare State?
Economic Changes, Vulnerabilities, and Institutional Capabilities
Eine Sozialstaatspartei in der Opposition
Die Wirtschaftspolitik der Ära Kohl
Die Politik zur deutschen Einheit
The New Politics of the Welfare State
Political Institutions, Veto Points, and the Process of Welfare State Adaptation
Der lange Schatten der schönen Illusion
Following or Leading Public Opinion? Social Security Policy and Public Attitudes Since 1997
New Labour, New Public Expenditure
Economic Policy under New Labour
The Treasury under Mrs Thatcher
Policy Change and Discourse in Europe
Political-economic context and partisan strategies in the German federal elections, 1990–2002
Why Parties Fail to Learn
Collusion, Competition and Democracy
The Politics of Blame Avoidance
The Risk Game and the Blame Game
Beyond Left and Right
Cutting Public Expenditures in Advanced Industrial Democracies
Welfare-state Retrenchment in Denmark and the Netherlands, 1982-1998
Does Discourse Matter in the Politics of Welfare State Adjustment
| Unique citing works | 37 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,95 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2026 (20) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 37 |