Transcript Slideshow
Sport & Politics in a Complex World David Hassan Professor of Sport Policy & Management ulster.ac.uk Sport & Politics in a Complex World David Hassan Professor of Sport Policy & Management ulster.ac.uk Context • Unprecedented period of change within world sport • Convergence of ‘new’ nation-states with an increasingly networked sports governance model leading to the virtual privatisation of world sport • Why is this happening? What are the consequences of this and how complicit are those engaged in the management of sport? Theoretical Explanations • Use of sport to assist a national drive towards ‘maturation’ (Rostow) Rostow • Hosting major sporting events represents an act of resistance against ‘Western’ principles and practices (Gramsci) • Concerns the realignment of any ‘core/periphery’ relationships that may persist (Wallerstein) Gramsci Wallerstein Renegotiating Core/ Periphery Relations (Wallerstein) • Sport has been important in the maintenance of core/ periphery relations but can also challenge them • Semi-peripheral and peripheral States are now seeking a share of ‘sporting equity’ • Very foundations of the established ‘core’ begin to erode, contributing to a ‘systemic crisis’ Bejing 2008 Olympic Games Russia 2014 Winter Olympic Games Equatorial Guinea 2015 Africa Cup Of Nations Azerbaijan 2015 European Games Belarus 2014 World Ice Hockey Championship Uganda 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championship Russia 2018 FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup Governance of Sport • Accountability is key in avoiding a concentration of power • Self-governing hierarchic networks are increasingly subjected to stakeholder input • “Less democracy is sometimes better for organising a World Cup” (FIFA GS Jerome Valcke) • The future of sport appears to be in those settings where things happen unquestionably The Middle East • Bahrain, Qatar and UAE = combined populations of 12.7 m • UAE alone has a GDP of $402.3 bn; Combined the GDP of Bahrain, Qatar and UAE would rank it in the Top 20 Countries in the world • UAE, a population of 9m but an indigenous population of < 1 m, critical in the context of Emiratisation Qatar Qatar • Treatment of migrant workers in advance of the 2022 FIFA World Cup • Formula 1 dispute with Bahrain • World Handball Championships 2015 • Lack of sustained growth of sport in Qatar Geo-Political Tensions and Sport • The role of the FIA in supporting the Bahrain minority government • The candidacy of Jordan’s Prince Ali Bin Al-Hussein for FIFA Presidency • The regional rivalry between GCC countries through sport – UAE and Qatar Thank you ulster.ac.uk