ABSTRACT
Labelling negative events as policy fiascoes entails such an act of blaming, often quite deliberately so. It implies holding public officials and agencies accountable for the damage done. Efforts to understand and explain the genesis of policy fiascoes can, therefore, never be seperated fully from issues of guilt and blame. The comparative analysis of policy fiascoes is therefore to some extent a form of political anthropology. Policy fiascoes are important tokens and signposts of particular political cultures. The political discovery of a policy failure constitutes a critical event, which challenges at least part of the policymaking system as a whole. Looking at misfortune and fiascoes from these political and symbolic perspectives, one may speculate that the plight of policymakers in Western countries will increase in the future. Technology and science have been crucial in creating a sense of control over our lives - physical control at first, but gradually also social and institutionalized control.
