Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T18:41:27.109Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Deliberate disproportionate policy response: towards a conceptual turn

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2019

Moshe Maor Open the ORCID record for Moshe Maor [Opens in a new window]
Moshe Maor*
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, Jerusalem, Israel
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Policy scholars tend to view disproportionate policy and its two component concepts – policy over- and underreaction – as either unintentional errors of commission or omission, or nonintentional responses that political executives never intended to implement yet are not executed unknowingly, inadvertently or accidentally. This article highlights a conceptual turn, whereby these concepts are reentering the policy lexicon as types of intentional policy responses that are largely undertaken when political executives are vulnerable to voters. Intentional overreactions derive from the desire of political executives to pander to voters’ opinions or signal extremity by overreacting to these opinions in domains susceptible to manipulation for credit-claiming purposes. Intentional underreactions are motivated by political executives’ attempts to avoid blame and may subsequently lead to deliberate overreaction. This conceptual turn forces scholars to recognise the political benefits that elected executives may reap from deliberately implementing disproportionate policies, and that such policies can at times be effective.

Keywords

crisesdisproportionate policydoctrineoverreactionrhetoricunderreaction
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , March 2021 , pp. 185 - 208
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abrajano, M and Hajnal, ZL (2015) White Backlash: Immigration, Race, and American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Ackrill, R, Kay, A and Zahariadis, N (2013) Ambiguity, Multiple Streams, and EU policy. Journal of European Public Policy, 20: 871–887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Armingeon, K and Giger, N (2008) Conditional Punishment: A Comparative Analysis of the Electoral Consequences of Welfare State Retrenchment in OECD Nations, 1980–2003. West European Politics, 31: 558–580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bachrach, P and Baratz, MS (1970) Power and Poverty: Theory and Practice. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Bagehot, W (1873) Lombard Street: A Description of the Money Market. London: Henry S. King.Google Scholar
Barber, MJ (2016) Ideological Donors, Contribution Limits, and the Polarization of American Legislatures. The Journal of Politics, 78: 296–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar-Hillel, M (1973) On the Subjective Probability of Compound Events. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 9; 396–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bar-Joseph, U (2005) Watchman Fell Asleep: The Surprise of Yom Kippur and its Sources. New York: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Baumgartner, FR, Berry, JM, Hojnacki, M, Kimball, DC and Leech, BL (2009) Lobbying and Policy Change: Who Wins, Who Losses, and Why? Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baumgartner, FR and Jones, BD (2009) Agendas and Instability in American Politics, 2nd ed. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Bazerman, MH and Watkins, MD (2008) Predictable Surprises: The Disasters You Should Have Seen Coming, and How to Prevent Them. Boston: Harvard Business Press.Google Scholar
Bellucci, P (2006) Tracing the Cognitive and Affective Roots of ‘Party Competence’. Electoral Studies, 25: 548–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernanke, BS (2014) Central Banking after the Great Recession: Lessons Learned and Challenges Ahead: A Discussion with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on the Fed’s 100th Anniversary. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Bils, P (2018) Essays on Policymaking and Expertise. Unpublished PhD Dissertation. Department of Political Science, University of Rochester.Google Scholar
Boin, A and ′t Hart, P (2003) Public Leadership in Times of Crisis: Mission Impossible? Public Administration Review, 63: 544–553.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boin, A, ′t Hart, P, Stern, E and Sundelius, B (2005) The Politics of Crisis Management: Public Leadership under Pressure. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, I and Farlie, DJ (1983) Explaining and Predicting Elections. London: Allen and Unwin.Google Scholar
Bueno de Mesquita, E (2007) Politics and the Suboptimal Provision of Counterterror. International Organization, 61: 9–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Callander, S and Wilkie, S (2007). Lies, Damned Lies, and Political Campaigns. Games and Economic Behavior, 60: 262–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calomiris, CW and Haber, SH (2014) Fragile by Design: The Political Origins of Banking Crises and Scarce Credit. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Canes-Wrone, B, Herron, MC and Shotts, KW (2001). Leadership and Pandering: A Theory of Executive Policymaking. American Journal of Political Science, 45: 532–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Canes-Wrone, B and Shotts, KW (2007). When Do Elections Encourage Ideological Rigidity? American Political Science Review, 101: 273–288.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmines, EG and Stimson, JA (1989) Issue Evolution: Race and the Transformation of American Politics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Carpenter, D (2010) Reputation and Power: Organizational Image and Pharmaceutical Regulation at the FDA. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chong, D (2013) Degrees of Rationality in Politics. In Huddy, L, Sears, DO and Levy, JS (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Political Psychology, 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 96–129.Google Scholar
Cobb, RW and Elder, CE (1972) Participation in American Politics: The Dynamics of Agenda-Building. Baltimore, MD: The Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Cobb, RW and Ross, MH (1997) (eds) Cultural Strategies of Agenda Denial: Avoidance, Attack and Redefinition. Kansas: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Committee on Climate Change (2014) Managing Climate Risks to Well-Being and the Economy Adaptation Sub-Committee: Progress Report 2014, London: Committee on Climate Change, https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Final_ASC-2014_web-version.pdf Google Scholar
Conlan, TJ, Posner, PL and Beam, DR (2014) Pathways of Power: The Dynamics of National Policymaking. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Crenshaw, M (2010) Introduction. In Crenshaw, M (ed.), The Consequences of Counterterrorism, New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1–30.Google Scholar
Crenson, MA (1971) The Un-Politics of Air Pollution: A Study of Non-Decisionmaking in the Cities. Baltimore: The John Hopkins Press.Google Scholar
Cronin, AK (2009) How Terrorism Ends: Understanding the Decline and Demise of Terrorist Campaigns. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
DEFRA (UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) (2005) Adaptation Policy Framework: A Consultation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, PB11431, London: DEFRA Google Scholar
De Francesco, F and Maggetti, M (2018) Assessing Disproportionality: Indexes of Policy Responses to the 2007–2008 Banking Crisis. Policy Sciences, 51: 17–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Vries, MS (2010) The Importance of Neglect in Policy-Making. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Donohue, L (2008) The Cost of Counterterrorism: Power, Politics, and Liberty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Draghi, M (2012) Speech at the Global Investment Conference, July 26. Available at https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2012/html/sp120726.en.html Google Scholar
Draghi, M (2013) Introductory Statement to the Press Conference (with Q&A), Frankfurt am Main, July 4. https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/pressconf/2017/html/ecb.is170720.en.html Google Scholar
Draghi, M (2017) Panel Discussion. The Central Bank Communications Conference, November 14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DI7p-g51O8g(starting 7:16).Google Scholar
Dragu, T (2017) On Repression and Its Effectiveness. Journal of Theoretical Politics, 29: 599–622.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Drazen, A and Eslava, M (2010) Electoral Manipulation Via Voter-friendly Spending: Theory and Evidence. Journal of Development Economics, 92: 39–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunleavy, P (2019) ‘The Bureaucracy’ as an Interest Group. In Congleton, RD, Grofman, B and Voigt, S (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Public Choice. Oxford Handbooks, Volume 1, New York, USA: Oxford University Press, 567–584.Google Scholar
Edelman, MJ (1964) The Symbolic Uses of Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Edelman, MJ (1977) Political Language: Words that Succeed and Policies that Fail. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Eiland, G (2018) Autobiography. Tel Aviv: Yedioth Ahronoth.Google Scholar
Enders, W, Sandler, T and Cauley, J (1990) UN Conventions, Technology and Retaliation in the Fight against Terrorism: An Econometric Evaluation. Terrorism and Political Violence, 2: 83–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Enns, P (2016) Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Epp, CR, Maynard-Moody, S and Haider-Merkel, D (2014) Pulled Over: How Police Stops Define Race and Citizenship. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, G and Mellon, J (2019) Immigration, Euroscepticism, and the Rise and Fall of UKIP. Party Politics, 25: 76–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenno, R (1978) Home Style: House Members in Their Districts. New York: Longman.Google Scholar
Geithner, TF (2014) Stress Test: Reflections on Financial Crises. New York: Crown.Google Scholar
Giger, N and Nelson, M (2011) The Electoral Consequences of Welfare State Retrenchment: Blame Avoidance or Credit Claiming in the Era of Permanent Austerity? European Journal of Political Research, 50: 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Giger, N and Nelson, M (2013) The Welfare State or the Economy? Preferences, Constituencies, and Strategies for Retrenchment. European Sociological Review, 29: 1083–1094.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gorton, G (2012) Misunderstanding Financial Crises. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gorton, G (2015) Stress for Success: A Review of Timothy Geithner’s Financial Crisis Memoir. Journal of Economic Literature, 53: 975–995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Green, J and Hobolt, S (2008) Owning the Issue Agenda: Party Strategies and Vote Choices in British Elections. Electoral Studies, 27: 460–476.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimmer, J, Messing, S and Westwood, S (2012). How Words and Money Cultivate a Personal Vote: The Effect of Legislator Credit Claiming on Constituent Credit Allocation. American Political Science Review, 106: 703–719.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heyes, M (2017) Incrementalism and Public Policy. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics, DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.133 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinterleitner, M (2017) Policy Failures, Blame Games and Changes to Policy Practice. Journal of Public Policy, 38: 221–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hinterleitner, M and Sager, F (2016) Anticipatory and Reactive Forms of Blame Avoidance: Of Foxes and Lions. European Political Science Review, 9: 587–606.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, AO and Lindblom, CE (1962) Economic Development, Research and Development, Policy Making: Some Converging Views. Behavioral Science, 7: 211–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodler, R, Loertscher, S and Rohner, D (2010) Inefficient Policies and Incumbency Advantage. Journal of Public Economics, 94: 761–767.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hood, C (2011) The Blame Game: Spin, Bureaucracy, and Self-Preservation in Government. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hood, CC and Peters, BG (2004) The Middle Aging of New Public Management: Into the Age of Paradox? Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, 14: 267–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howard, MM (2017) Unusually Cruel: Prisons, Punishment, and the Real American Exceptionalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Howlett, M and Goetz, KH (2014) Introduction: Time, Temporality and Timescapes in Administration and Policy. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 80: 477–492.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howlett, M and Kemmerling, A (2017) Calibrating Climate Change Policies: The Causes and Consequences of Sustained Under-reaction. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 19: 625–637.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howlett, M and Migone, A (2011) Charles Lindblom is Alive and Well and Living in Punctuated Equilibrium Land, Policy and Society, 30: 53–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iversen, T (1994) Political Leadership and Representation in West European Democracies: A Test of Three Models of Voting. American Journal of Political Science, 38: 45–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janis, IL (1982) Victims of Groupthink: A Psychological Study of Foreign-Policy Decisions and Fiascos. 2nd ed. Boston: Houghton Miflin.Google Scholar
Jennings, W, Farrall, S, Gray, E and Hay, C (2017) Penal Populism and the Public Thermostat: Crime, Public Punitiveness and Public Policy. Governance, 30: 463–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jervis, R (2017) How Statesmen Think: The Psychology of International Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Jones, BD and Baumgartner, FR (2005) The Politics of Attention: How Government Prioritizes Problems. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Jones, BD, Thomas, HF III and Wolfe, M (2014) Policy Bubbles. Policy Studies Journal, 42: 146–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahneman, D (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D, Slovic, P and Tversky, A (eds.) (1982) Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karreth, J, Polk, JT and Allen, CS (2013) Catchall or Catch and Release? The Electoral Consequences of Social Democratic Parties’ March to the Middle in Western Europe. Comparative Political Studies, 46: 791–822.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kedar, O (2005) When Moderate Voters Prefer Extreme Policies: Policy Balancing in Parliamentary Elections. American Political Science Review, 99: 185–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, R and Kerin, J (1990) Joint Statement: Government Sets Targets for Reduction in Greenhouse Gases. 11 October, http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/download/media/pressrel/2209922/upload_binary/2209922.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf#search=%22media/pressrel/2209922%22 Google Scholar
Kriner, D and Reeves, A (2015) The Particularistic President: Executive Branch Politics and Political Inequality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, G (2016) Understanding Trump. Book excerpt. Retrieved from https://press.uchicago.edu/books/excerpt/2016/lakof_trump.html (accessed 4 July 2019).Google Scholar
Lau, RR, Anderson, DJ and Redlawsk, DP (2008) An Exploration of Correct Voting in Recent U.S. Presidential Elections. American Journal of Political Science, 52: 395–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leong, C and Howlett, M (2017) On Credit and Blame: Disentangling the Motivations of Public Policy Decision-Making Behavior. Policy Sciences, 50: 599–618.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lieberman, ES (2009) Boundaries of contagion: How ethnic politics have shaped government responses to AIDS. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindbom, A (2014) Waking up the Giant? Hospital Closures and Electoral Punishment in Sweden, In Kumlin, S and Stadelmann-Steffen, I (eds.), How Welfare States Shape the Democratic Public: Policy Feedback, Participation, Voting and Attitudes, Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar, 156–178.Google Scholar
Lindblom, CE (1959) The Science of ‘Muddling Through’. Public Administration Review, 19: 79–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodge, M and Hood, C (2002) Pavlovian Policy Responses to Media Feeding Frenzies? Dangerous Dogs Regulation in Comparative Perspective. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, 10: 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodge, M and Taber, C (2000) Three Steps toward a Theory of Motivated Political Reasoning. In Lupia, A, McCubbins, M and Popkin, S (eds.), Elements of Reason: Cognition, Choice, and the Bounds of Rationality, New York: Cambridge University Press, 183–213.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lukes, S (1975) Power: A Radical View, 2nd ed. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Malhotra, N and Margalit, Y (2014) Expectation Setting and Retrospective Voting. Journal of Politics, 76(4): 1000–1016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maor, M (2012) Policy Overreaction. Journal of Public Policy, 32: 231–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maor, M (2014a) Policy Persistence, Risk Estimation and Policy Underreaction. Policy Sciences, 47: 425–443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maor, M (2014b) Policy Bubbles: Policy Overreaction and Positive Feedback. Governance, 27: 469–487.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maor, M (2016) Emotion-Driven Negative Policy Bubbles. Policy Sciences, 49: 191–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maor, M (2017a) The Implications of the Emerging Disproportionate Policy Perspective for the New Policy Design Studies. Policy Sciences, 50: 383–398.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maor, M (2017b) Disproportionate Policy Response. In The Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maor, M (2017c) Policy Overreaction Doctrine: From Ideal-Type to Context-Sensitive Solution in Times of Crisis. In Howlett, M and Mukherjee, I (eds.), Handbook of Policy Formulation, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 539–554.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maor, M (2017d) Policy Entrepreneurs in Policy Valuation Processes: The Case of the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economies. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, 35: 1401–1417.Google Scholar
Maor, M (2018) Rhetoric and Doctrines of Policy Over- and Underreactions in Times of Crisis. Policy & Politics, 46: 47–63.Google Scholar
Maor, M (2019a) Overreaction and Bubbles in Politics and Policy. In Mintz, A and Terris, L (eds.), Oxford Handbook on Behavioral Political Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Available online at https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190634131.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780190634131-e-28 Google Scholar
Maor, M (2019b) Strategic Policy Overreaction as a Risky Policy Investment. International Review of Public Policy, 1: 46–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maor, M (forthcoming) Policy Over- and Under-reaction as Policy Styles. In Howlett, M and Tosun, J (eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Policy Styles, London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Maor, M and Gross, J (2015) Emotion Regulation by Emotional Entrepreneurs: Implications for Political Science and International Relations. Paper presented at the 73rd Annual Conference of the Midwest Political Science Association, 16–19 April, Chicago.Google Scholar
Maor, M, Tosun, J and Jordan, A (2017) Proportionate and Disproportionate Policy Responses to Climate Change: Core Concepts and Empirical Applications. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 19: 599–611.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Margetts, H, 6 P and Hood, C (2010) Paradoxes of Modernization: Unintended Consequences of Public Policy Reforms. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maskin, E and Tirole, J (2004) The Politician and the Judge: Accountability in Government. American Economic Review, 94: 1034–1054.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayhew, DR (1974) Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
McClendon, GH (2018) Envy in Politics. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
McConnell, A and ′t Hart, P (2014) Public Policy as Inaction: The Politics of Doing Nothing. Available at https://ssrn.com/abstract=2500010 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meir, G (1975) My Life. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons.Google Scholar
Mele, AR (2009) Intention and Intentional action. In Beckermann, A, Brian, PM and Walter, S (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 691–712.Google Scholar
Merrill, S III and Grofman, B (1999) A Unified Theory of Voting: Directional and Proximity Spatial Models. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, OC (2016) Over- and Underreaction to Transboundary Threats: Two Sides of a Misprinted Coin? Journal of European Public Policy, 23: 735–752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mintz, A and Wayne, C (2016) The Ploythink Syndrome: U.S. Foriegn Policy Decisions on 9/11, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, and ISIS. Stanford: Staford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Passingham, RE, Bengtsson, SL and Lau, HC (2010) Medial Frontal Cortex: From Self-generated Action to Reflection on One’s Own Performance. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 14: 16–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peters, BG, Jordan, A and Tosun, J (2017) Over-REACTION and Under-Reaction in Climate Policy: An Institutional Analysis. Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, 19: 612–624.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrocik, JR (1996) Issue Ownership in Presidential Elections, with a 1980 Case Study. American Journal of Political Science, 40: 825–850.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, P (2005) Politics in Time. History, Institutions, and Social Analysis. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Rabinowitz, G and Macdonald, SE (1989) A Directional Theory of Issue Voting. American Political Science Review, 83: 93–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhodes, RAW (2000) The Governance Narrative: Key Findings and Themes from the ESRC’s Whitehall Programme. Public Administration, 78: 345–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhodes, RAW (2011) Everyday Life in British Government. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rhodes, RAW (2017) Interpretive Political Science. Selected Essays, Volume II. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sabatier, PA and Jenkins-Smith, HC (eds) (1993) Policy Change and Learning: An Advocacy Coalition Approach. Boulder: Westview Press.Google Scholar
Sandler, T, Arce, DG and Enders, W (2009) Transnational Terrorism. In Lomborg, B (ed.) Global Crises, Global Solutions: Costs and Benefits, 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 516–562.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schlozman, KL, Brady, HE and Verba, S (2018) Unequal and Unrepresented: Political Inequality and the People’s Voice in the New Gilded Age. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Schlozman, KL, Verba, S and Brady, HE (2012) The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal Political Voice and the Broken Promise of American Democracy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schneider, AL, Ingram, H and de Leon, P (2014) Democratic Policy Design: Social Construction of Target Populations. In Sabatier, PA and Weible, CM (eds.), Theories of the Policy Process, Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 105–150.Google Scholar
Simon, HA (1985) Human Nature in Politics: The Dialogue of Psychology with Political Science. American Political Science Review, 79: 293–304.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simon, HA (1995) Rationality in Political Behavior. In Moser, PK (ed.), Rationality in Action: Contemporary Approaches, New York: Cambridge University Press, 189–206.Google Scholar
Skowronek, S (1993) The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to George Bush. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Skowronek, S (2008) Presidential Leadership in Political Time: Reprise and Reappraisal. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.Google Scholar
Staw, BM (1981) The Escalation of Commitment to a Course of Action. Academy of Management Review, 6: 577–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tsai, LL (2007) Accountability Without Democracy: Solidary Groups and Public Goods Provision in Rural China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tversky, A and Kahneman, D (1974) Availability: A Heuristic for Judging Frequency and Probability. Cognitive Psychology, 5: 207–232.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van der Brug, W (2004) Issue Ownership and Party Choice. Electoral Studies, 23: 209–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vis, B (2016) Taking Stock of the Comparative Literature on the Role of Blame Avoidance Strategies in Social Policy Reform. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis: Research and Practice, 18: 122–137.Google Scholar
Walgrave, S, Lefevere, J and Tresch, A (2012) The Associative Dimension of Issue Ownership. Public Opinion Quarterly, 76: 771–782.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walker, SG and Malici, A (2011) U.S. Presidents and Foreign Policy Mistakes. Stanford: Stanford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weaver, KR (1986) The Politics of Blame Avoidance. Journal of Public Policy, 6: 371–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenzelburger, G (2011) Political Strategies and Fiscal Retrenchment: Evidence from Four Countries. West European Politics, 34: 1151–1184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenzelburger, G (2014) Blame Avoidance, Electoral Punishment and the Perceptions of Risk. Journal of European Social Policy, 24: 80–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wlezien, C (1995) The Public as Thermostat: Dynamics of Preferences for Spending. American Journal of Political Science, 39: 981–1000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zahavi, A (1975) Mate Selection: A Selection for a Handicap. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 53: 205–214.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed