Populist Blame Games

Abstract

Abstract With the surge of populism around the world, blame games have also begun to transform. For populists, blame is not something to be avoided but rather generated and used to one’s own advantage, even when being at the receiving end of blame. Based on the twenty-one months that the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (EKRE), a populist radical-right party, spent in office as a junior coalition partner, the chapter outlines blame-game strategies that conform to the ideological, performative, and strategic logics of populism. It demonstrates how populists are keen to generate blame even while in office and play credit-claiming games also when these are likely to result in blame. When taking blame, populists use five complementary strategies: playing innocent, justifying, undermining accountability mechanisms, escalating, and issuing non-apologies. Populists’ playbook thus differs notably from the blame-avoiding style of neoliberal governments, as also its understanding of political accountability is dramatically different.