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Just as the sinking of the Titanic is embedded in public consciousness in the English-speaking world, so the crash of Japanese Airlines flight JL123 has become part of Japanese collective memory. This book examines the crash, considering why it has come to have such importance for the Japanese.

Credit claiming, blame avoidance, and negativity bias -- Players in the blame game : inside the world of blame avoidance -- Presentational strategies : winning the argument, drawing a line, changing the subject, and keeping a low profile -- Agency strategies : direct or delegate, choose or inherit? -- Policy or operational strategies -- The institutional dynamics of blameworld : a new teflon era? -- Mixing and matching blame-avoidance strategies -- Democracy, good governance, and blame-avoidance -- The last word

The blame game, with its finger-pointing and mutual buck-passing, is a familiar feature of politics and organizational life, and blame avoidance pervades government and public organizations at every level. Political and bureaucratic blame games and blame avoidance are more often condemned than analyzed. In The Blame Game, Christopher Hood takes a different approach by showing how blame avoidance shapes the workings of government and public services. Arguing that the blaming phenomenon is not all bad, Hood demonstrates that it can actually help to pin down responsibility, and he examines diffe.

I am not sure if surprise, delight, or gratitude best describes my feelings about receiving this great honor. I experienced all of those emotions in full measure. I must begin by sincerely thanking the American Political Science Association (APSA) Public Administration Section for conferring the 2021 John Gaus Award on me and by saying how much it means to me. Looking at the list of previous John Gaus Award winners, I am indeed awed to be included in their number. There are so many names whose work I have deeply admired and others whom I have known quite well. Just three examples are George Frederickson, Vincent Ostrom, and Aaron Wildavsky, all of whom were extraordinarily kind and generous to me and greatly influenced my work. I only wish they were still here so I could thank them for all they did for me. The same is true for other now-departed mentors, including Mary Douglas, Andrew Dunsire, and Bill Mackenzie, to mention only a few.