The Politics and Governance of Blame

Matthew Flinders is Professor of Politics at the University of Sheffield, and Vice President of the Political Studies Association. He is a former board member of the Economic and Social Research Council, and Chair of the Universities Policy Engagement Network. He is the author of editor of eighteen books and over two hundred research articles on governance, public policy, and socio-political change. In addition to his academic work, he has served as a special advisor in both the House of Lords and House of Commons, and he has written and presented a number of documentaries for the BBC.


Gergana Dimova is Associate Professor at Northeastern University London, UK. Her scholarship analyses politics through a range of thematic lenses, such as democracy, blame games, uncertainty, accountability, and the media. Her work has appeared in the journalsDemocratizatsiya, Democratic Theory, Comparative Democratic Theory, Global Media Journal, the Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Societyand others. Dr Dimova is the commissioning co-editor of Cambridge University Press Elements in the Politics and Society in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She is an associate editor of the journalDemocratic Theoryand the convenor of the Politics and Anti-Politics Specialist Group of the UK Political Science Association. Dr Dimova obtained her MA and PhD from Harvard University and her post-doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge.

Markus Hinterleitner is an Assistant Professor of Public Administration and Political Institutions at the University of Lausannes IDHEAP. He is the author of Policy Controversies and Political Blame Games (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and numerous articles on the politics of blame.

Rod Rhodes is the author or editor of 45 books and 11 journal symposia. He has also published some 200 articles and chapters in books. He previously served as editor in chief of Public Administration and Public Policy and Administration. He currently edits two book series, Political Ethnography for Manchester University Press and Transforming British Government for Palgrave-Macmillan. He was chair and vice-president of the UK's Political Studies Association and Treasurer of the Australasian PSA. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences (UK).


R. Kent Weaver is Professor of Public Policy and Government at Georgetown University. Weaver's recent research focuses on understanding how political institutions, feedbacks from past policy choices and strategic behaviour of politicians interact to shape public policy choices. He is also interested in understanding the determinants of compliance and non-compliance with public policy across a variety of policy sectors. Weaver is the author and co-author of many books, including The Politics of Industrial Change, Do Institutions Matter?, Ending Welfare As We Know It, and Policy Feedbacks.

Gergana Dimova is Associate Professor at Northeastern University London, UK. Her scholarship analyses politics through a range of thematic lenses, such as democracy, blame games, uncertainty, accountability, and the media. Her work has appeared in the journalsDemocratizatsiya, Democratic Theory, Comparative Democratic Theory, Global Media Journal, the Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Societyand others. Dr Dimova is the commissioning co-editor of Cambridge University Press Elements in the Politics and Society in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. She is an associate editor of the journalDemocratic Theoryand the convenor of the Politics and Anti-Politics Specialist Group of the UK Political Science Association. Dr Dimova obtained her MA and PhD from Harvard University and her post-doctoral degree from the University of Cambridge.