Varieties of European Blame Games: On Scapegoats, Pariahs, and Diffusion Games

Blame games whereby government and opposition attribute blame publicly for policy failures to one another are a key feature of modern democratic politics. Blame games have also become an integral feature of European politics. Politicization has fuelled public attention about EU policies and, in particular, EU policy failures. As a result, different political actors – domestic or European, intergovernmental or supranational –publicly attribute blame to one another once EU policies fail. Existing resarch on blame avoidance in the EU commonly points to one particular blame game, whereby member state governments shift blame onto the EU. This ‘scapegoat game’ is but one kind of blame game that characterizes the politics of blame in the EU. We differentiate between three different types of European blame games: ‘scapegoat games’, ‘pariah games’, and ‘diffusion games’. Each European blame game is characterized by a distinct actor constellation and blame attribution pattern. To illustrate our typology, we analyse three EU migration policies that gave rise to different European blame games: the EU’s border controls, the EU’s asylum system, and the EU’s internal labour migration. Drawing on press releases, parliamentary debates, and media reports we assess the interactions of blame takers and blame senders characteristic for the different blame games. Distinguishing between different European blame games is important because each type carries distinct implications for member state governments’ democratic accountability. Just as domestic blame games between government and opposition can contribute to democratic accountability, certain European blame games have the potential to improve member state governments’ democratic accountability and increase the EU’s overall public support.