Is it Fair to Blame a Country?

Increasingly, blame and criticism are being directed at Countries, when in fact the targets should actually be the Administration of those Countries. North Korea, Iran, Iraq, America... the list goes on. In many cases, only a very small percentage of the population has any participation in the decision making process. Even in a democracy, the blank-check delivered at election time can be spent in areas that were not desired by voters. Any actions taken against a country will be interpreted by a passive-population as being directed at them, and they will react accordingly. How can we better delineate between the Country and its Administration in the political-rhetoric?