Why are policy innovations rare and so often negative? Blame avoidance and problem denial in climate change policy-making

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Innovations in climate policy: the politics of invention, diffusion, and evaluation (2014, background): “They are a special class of politically relevant actor who take an interest in invention, when the powerful – including most politicians – are focused on other things, such as finding excuses not to act (Howlett 2014), or diffusing existing ones (Polsby 1984, p.”
Toward a processual understanding of policy integration (2016, background): “Howlett (2014) shows that for new cross-cutting policy issues, such as climate change, governments are often risk averse and use blame avoidance tactics, including reverting to discursive forms of integration, thereby seriously hampering policy success.”
Understanding the persistence of policy failures: The role of politics, governance and uncertainty (2015, background): “The articles in this issue ultimately argue the persistence of such failures may be addressed through enhancing the capacity of policy actors and better designing policy processes and institutions to recognize and overcome common sources and types of failures (Howlett, 2012, 2014b, 2014c).”