Buck passing

Buck passing

Buck passing or passing the buck is the action of transferring responsibility or blame unto another person.It is also used as a strategy in power politics when the actions of one country/nation are blamed on another, providing an opportunity for war.

The latter expression is said to have originated with the game of poker, in which a marker or counter, frequently in frontier days a knife with a buckhorn handle, was used to indicate the person whose turn it was to deal. If the player did not wish to deal he could pass the responsibility by passing the "buck", as the counter came to be called, to the next player.

Historical Examples

Passing the buck in international political theory involves nation-states that fail to form successful and timely alliances because of other nations trying to coat-tail their multipolar hegemon. To detail this idea, Kenneth Waltz describes in his book "Theory of International Politics" how the French tried to talk Britain into going after Adolf Hitler during the occupation of the Rhineland in 1936. [cite journal|last = Christensen|first = Thomas|coauthors = Jack Snyder|title = Chain Gangs and Passed Bucks: Predicting Alliance Patterns in Multipolarity|journal = International Organization|volume = 44|issue = 2|pages = 137–168|date = 1990|url = http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~olau/ir/archive/chr1.pdf|accessdate = June 2007]

ee also

* scapegoat
* The buck stops here, a derived expression
* Button (poker)

References


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • buck-passing — buck pass·ing (bŭkʹpăs ĭng) n. Informal The shifting of responsibility or blame to another: “smothered in avalanches of recriminations and orgies of buck passing” (Forbes).   [buck4(from a poker player s passing the marker, or buck, to the next… …   Universalium

  • buck passing — see ↑pass the buck below. • • • Main Entry: ↑buck …   Useful english dictionary

  • buck-passing — buck ,passing noun uncount the practice of passing responsibility for something to someone else instead of dealing with it yourself …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • buck-passing — noun or adj Buck passing clerks in stores make customers angry. Compare: pass the buck, buck passer …   Словарь американских идиом

  • buck-passing — /ˈbʌk pasɪŋ/ (say buk pahsing) noun avoiding responsibility by passing it on to another. –buck passer, noun …  

  • buck-passing — noun see buck passer …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • buck-passing — noun see buck passer …   Useful english dictionary

  • buck-passing — noun Blame shifting; the act of absolving oneself of responsibility or concern for a given matter by claiming to lack authority or jurisdiction …   Wiktionary

  • buck-passing — UK / US noun [uncountable] the practice of blaming someone else for something rather than accepting the responsibility yourself …   English dictionary

  • Passing — may refer to:ociology*Passing (sociology), presenting oneself as a member of another sociological group *Passing (gender), presenting oneself as a member of the opposite gender *Passing (racial identity), presenting oneself as a member of another …   Wikipedia

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