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This chapter defines blame games as ‘microcosms of conflictual politics’ that are distinct from routine political processes. It then describes the blame-generating strategies used by opponents and the blame-management strategies used by incumbents during blame games. This chapter also answers the question of why it is particularly important to study blame games triggered by policy controversies. The chapter continues by introducing the theoretical framework used to explain blame game interactions and their consequences. The guiding idea behind the theoretical framework is that it is only possible to understand blame games by considering the institutional factors that characterize the political system in which blame games occur (the ‘political terrain’) and the issue characteristics at their roots, which determine the public’s reaction to a blame game (the ‘audience’). The framework strikes a balance between zooming in on the content of political conflict and securing comparability across controversy types.
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