English-language idiom
Buck passing
, or
passing the buck
, or sometimes
(playing) the blame game
, is the act of attributing to another person or group one's own responsibility. It is often used to refer to a strategy in
power politics
whereby a state tries to get another state to deter or fight an aggressor state while it remains on the sidelines.
[1]
Etymology
[
edit
]
The expression is said to have originated from
poker
in which a marker or counter (such as a knife with a buckhorn handle during the
American Frontier
era) was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to
deal
. If the player did not wish to deal, the responsibility could be passed by the passing of the "
buck
," as the counter came to be called, to the next player.
[2]
In international relations
[
edit
]
Passing the buck in
international relations theory
involves the tendency of
nation-states
to refuse to confront a growing threat in the hopes that another state will.
[3]
According to
John Mearsheimer
,
Thomas Christensen
and
Jack Snyder
, buck passing is particularly common in
multipolar
international systems whereas it is rare in bipolar international systems.
[3]
[4]
Examples of buck passing include:
- The delay in forming a balancing coalition against Napoleon until 1813
[3]
- The refusal of the United Kingdom, United States, France, and/or the
Soviet Union
to confront
Nazi Germany
effectively in the 1930s. With the
Munich Agreement
, France and the United Kingdom passed the buck to the Soviet Union, which then avoided armed confrontation by signing the
Molotov?Ribbentrop Pact
.
[4]
- The failure of European great powers to balance against Bismarck as he
unified Germany
.
[3]
Similarly, Mearsheimer argues that the delay of the
Normandy Invasion
shows that a buck passing state can shift the balance of power in its favor: "There is no question that the United States benefited greatly from delaying the Normandy invasion until late in the war, when both the German and the Soviet armies were battered and worn down. Not surprisingly,
Joseph Stalin
believed that the United Kingdom and the United States were purposely allowing Germany and the Soviet Union to bleed each other white, so that those offshore balancers [the United States and the United Kingdom] could dominate postwar Europe."
[5]
"The buck stops here"
[
edit
]
"The buck stops here"
is a phrase that was popularized by
U.S. President
Harry S. Truman
, who kept a sign with that phrase on his desk in the
Oval Office
.
[6]
The phrase refers to the notion that the President has to make the decisions and accept the ultimate responsibility for those decisions. Truman received the sign as a gift from a prison warden who was also an avid poker player. It is also the motto of the
U.S. Naval Aircraft Carrier
USS
Harry S. Truman
(CVN-75)
.
[7]
President
Jimmy Carter
arranged to borrow the sign from the
Harry S. Truman Presidential Library and Museum
.
[8]
Footage from Carter's "Address to the Nation on Energy"
[9]
shows the sign on the desk during his administration.
The reverse of the sign reads, "I'm from Missouri."
[6]
This is a reference to Truman's home state as well as
Willard Duncan Vandiver
's statement: "I'm from Missouri. You've got to show me."
On January 10, 2019, 19 days into a federal government shutdown, a reporter asked President
Donald Trump
if "the buck stops with you over this shutdown." Trump responded with "The buck stops with everybody."
[10]
In 2019, in his first speech as
U.K. Prime Minister
,
Boris Johnson
vowed to "take personal responsibility for the change" that he would advance, saying "The buck stops here."
[11]
[12]
In 2021, U.S. President
Joe Biden
said in his statement regarding his affirmation of the
Afghanistan withdrawal
, "The buck stops with me."
[13]
[14]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
John, Mearsheimer (2001).
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 157?58.
ISBN
9780393076240
.
- ^
Mitford M. Mathews, ed.,
A Dictionary of Americanisms on Historical Principles
(Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1951), I, pp. 198?99.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Mearsheimer, John J. (2001). "Chapter 8".
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
. W. W. Norton & Company.
ISBN
978-0-393-34927-6
.
- ^
a
b
Christensen, Thomas; Jack Snyder (1990).
"Chain Gangs and Passed Bucks: Predicting Alliance Patterns in Multipolarity"
(PDF)
.
International Organization
.
44
(2): 137?68.
doi
:
10.1017/S0020818300035232
.
S2CID
18700052
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on September 7, 2008
. Retrieved
June 6,
2017
.
- ^
John, Mearsheimer (2001).
The Tragedy of Great Power Politics
. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. p. 160.
ISBN
9780393076240
.
- ^
a
b
"
"The Buck Stops Here" Desk sign"
.
Truman Library
.
- ^
Jan R. Van Meter,
Tippecanoe and Tyler Too
: Famous Slogans and Catchphrases in American History
.
- ^
"
'Buck Stops Here' To Be Sign of Carter"
.
The New York Times
. 6 February 1977
. Retrieved
30 August
2016
.
- ^
President Jimmy Carter ? Address to the Nation on Energy
.
YouTube
. 28 March 2008.
Archived
from the original on 2021-12-21.
- ^
"President Trump: 'The buck stops with everybody' | The Week"
.
The Week
. 10 January 2019.
- ^
"Boris Johnson: First speech as PM in full"
.
BBC News
. 2019-07-24.
Archived
from the original on 2019-08-25.
- ^
"New PM Johnson's arrival speech in Downing Street"
.
Reuters
. 2019-07-25.
Archived
from the original on 2021-08-17.
- ^
"Remarks by President Biden on Afghanistan"
.
White House
. 2021-08-16.
Archived
from the original on 2021-08-17.
- ^
"Full Transcript of President Biden's Remarks on Afghanistan"
.
The New York Times
. 2021-08-16.
Archived
from the original on 2021-08-17.