The Government And Politics Of Sport

When originally published in 1991 this was the first book to tackle the UK policy process of sport and to provide a political science analysis of some of the key issues facing sports administrators today. The volume identifies the parties involved: central government, local government, the Sports Council, the Central Council of Physical Recreation, and the individual sports governing bodies. It examines their effect on sport’s policy and administration through an analysis of three important current sport issues – football hooliganism, drug abuse among athletes and sport opportunities and facilities for school children.

Identifying the principal bodies involved in the administration of sport and how they relate to each other, this book is a comprehensive guide to the sports bodies and their policies.

Sport, Policy and Politics is a genuinely comparative analysis of sport policy-making in five countries - Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and North America. Some of the issues raised in this book include: * the process of sport policy-making * the administrative framework for sport: the responsibilities of central or federal governments, state governments and local authorities * the division of responsibility between different levels of government * how policy-making has addressed the topical problems of drug abuse in athletes, and the provision of sport and physical education in schools.

This innovative new text examines sport's relationship with politics and argues that sport has always been political, even as far back as antiquity. However, in the last 30 years there has been an unprecedented politicization of sport through increasing government intervention. Jonathan Grix takes a comprehensive and engaging look at sport politics by examining state involvement in initiatives from sports mega-events through to grass-roots and community sport activities. Providing an accessible introduction to this growing area of study, the text examines a number of approaches to the topic – including theories from Political Science, Sociology and International Relations – and adopts a critical framework throughout. In doing so the text discusses the relationship between social capital and sport, how governments use sport for non-sporting objectives and the role of governance in sport policy. Real-world examples demonstrate just how entwined sport and politics are: from ardent soccer fans effectively 'locked-in' by ever-increasing ticket prices, to taxpayer's money funding ever more extravagant international sports mega-events, to the moral and political implications of doping.

Active Canadian government in sport is recent. Even after the passage of the Fitness and Amateur Sport Act in 1961, government activity was limited to small grants to national sport governing bodies and cost-sharing agreements with the provinces aimed at increasing participation in sport. By the end of the 1960s sport had come to be seen as an instrument which could be used to promote national unity. Government involvement increased, and by the 1980s the federal government was pouring increasing funds into the support of elite athletes and the construction of sports facilities.

This book focuses on the major social and political forces that have shaped the ways in which sport has been understood, organized, and contested in an effort to engender social change. Integrating the history of international development with the history of modern sport, the authors examine the underpinnings of sport-for-development from the mid-19th through the early 21st centuries. Including both archival research and extensive interviews with more than 15 individuals who were central to the institutions and movements that shaped sport as a force for development, this book will be of particular interest to the growing number of scholars, students, practitioners, advocates and activists interested in the possibilities and limitations of sport-for-development.

This book examines how states in the post-socialist Western Balkans region have used sport as a policy tool, and how sport in the region has been shaped by politics, history, and culture. Looking closely at the intersection of sports policy and politics in the countries of Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, this book explores the roles of sport in nation-building and how sport has been used by regimes looking to establish political legitimacy in the transition from the post-socialist era. It offers a fascinating insight into the way that sport has been co-opted for political purposes, and into the complexities of formulating sports policy and wider public policy in societies in which governance structures may be weak and in which clientelism, corruption, and partisanship pose constant challenges. This book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the history and politics of sport, in public policy, or in the history, politics, and culture of the former Yugoslav countries.

Examines the emergence, development and status of an elite sport development policy in swimming, track and field, and sailing in Australia, Canada and the UK.