This thesis investigates blame avoidance behaviour in a debate between two Swedish parliamentary parties, the Social Democrats and the Moderates. By examining the debate, using R. Kent Weavers (1986) blame avoidance theory, we can better understand how political parties react to blame and what discursive strategies they apply to avoid it. Furthermore, by analyzing how political representatives avoid blame, its arguments and its language, we can gain a better picture of their incentives and what drives them to avoid blame. The thesis concludes that the Social Democrats and the Moderates use a combination of different types of blame avoidance strategies. Above all, they use strategies that Christopher Hood (2011) defines as presentational strategies and agency strategies, but they are also exploiting the 2015 refugee crisis to avoid blame. Boin et al (2009) defines this as 'crisis exploitation' and is used by the parties to shift focus from their own mistakes by framing the crisis as an external cause beyond their control. The thesis also concludes that the increased mediatization of politics has led to greater risks for parties of being exposed to blame. The parties have thus become more sensitive to exposure to blame, which in turn increases their incentives to adopt blame avoidance strategies. Finally, the thesis takes on a critical approach to blame avoidance. The practice of blame avoidance in public debate risks undermining the possibilities for an open, transparent, and genuine discussion about serious problems. Additionally, the rhetoric risks reinforcing an already polarized and antagonistic culture between parties and their voters.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:mau-67732 |
| Date | January 2024 |
| Creators | Jakobsson, Axel |
| Publisher | Malmö universitet, Institutionen för globala politiska studier (GPS) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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