Sport Policy And Politics

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.

Sport Policy: a comparative analysis of stability and change builds on the growing general interest in the comparative study of sport policy and the more specific interest in processes of policy change and issues associated with policy convergence. In stark contrast to many other areas of public policy such as education, personal welfare and health care there is a paucity of theoretically informed comparative studies in sport. Over recent years there has been a steady increase in public investment in sport and frequently, as a consequence, a sharper debate about how public resources should be used. However, there has been little analysis of the factors that shape the generation of domestic sport policy and little attempt to identify the variables that might influence the policy process. Sport Policy: a comparative analysis of stability and change provides a theoretically informed analysis of the sports systems in Canada, England, Germany and Norway. These economically advanced countries are carefully selected to enable the investigation of the significance of variables and because they share a number of socio-economic and sports-related characteristics, which provides the text with a unique breadth and depth of coverage. This text is a vital addition to the general paucity of literature in this area and is written by an internationally renowned author team.

Austerity is perhaps the major challenge of our times, given the speed at which it arrived and the consequences of its impact upon society. The global financial crash and economic downturn was the catalyst for change and, against a backdrop of advice from experts adverse to Keynesian economics, the ideology of austerity grew and became the dominant thinking to steer economies out of recession. This comprehensive volume draws upon both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies to provide a varied and contextually rich insight into sport, policy, and politics in an era of austerity. The authors cover a wide range of issues in a variety of organisational contexts and geographies, including sports participation across different socio-demographic groups; the impact of austerity on the provision of community sports; disability sport; public management of sport facilities; the performance of public sport facilities with respect to access, finance, utilisation, and customer satisfaction; the potential impact of austerity on sport for development; elite sport; and social inclusion and poverty. This book makes a significant contribution to the current academic debate, while raising important considerations for policymakers and managers. It was originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics.

Sport in the Middle East has become a major issue in global affairs. The contributors to this timely volume discuss the intersection of political and cultural processes related to sport in the region. Eleven chapters trace the historical institutionalization of sport and the role it has played in negotiating "Western" culture. Sport is found to be a contested terrain where struggles are being fought over the inclusion of women, over competing definitions of national identity, over preserving social memory, and over press freedom. Also discussed are the implications of mega-sporting events for host countries, and how both elite sport policies and sports industries in the region are being shaped. Sport, Politics and Society in the Middle East draws on academic disciplines from the humanities and social sciences to offer in-depth, theoretically grounded, and richly empirical case studies. It employs diverse research methodologies, from ethnography and in-depth interviews to archival research, to make a lasting contribution to this critical subject.

Sports figures, events and organisations affect our society in vast, varied and sometimes unexpected ways. This title tackles some of the most compelling connections between the sports world and public policy. It begins by examining issues related to professional sports. It also explores amateur sports and public health.

SAGE LIBRARY OF SPORTS STUDIES As such a major source of passion and influence throughout the world, sport represents a fascinating area of research for academics from a broad range of disciplines, including sociology, politics, economics, history, and media and communication. The SAGE Library of Sports Studies demonstrates the wide scope of this ever-expanding field and charts the rapid development of intellectual interest over the last few decades. Each multivolume set represents a landmark collection of the essential published works collated from the foremost publications in the field by an editor or editorial team of renowned international stature.

For small nations like Grenada, New Zealand and Norway, medal counts relative to population are increasingly touted as the most meaningful comparisons with sporting superpowers China, the United States and Germany. In acknowledging that 60% of the world’s states have populations of less than 10 million and 48% of these have less than 5 million inhabitants, this book explores how the ‘minnows’ can build or sustain their sport programmes. Despite the immense variation among and between small states, this book suggests that scale ‘matters’. The contributors, from Antigua and Barbuda, Finland, Lebanon, Norway, New Zealand, and Sweden demonstrate the challenges and opportunities of governing sport in their respective countries. These works highlight the distinctive policy ‘ecologies’ of sport in small states, marked by the unique responses to global pressures, the domestic realities of having limited resources, and by the close-knit networks of accountability. This volume will help scholars and policy makers to better understand the significance of having fewer ‘degrees of separation’ and the implications this has for sport. This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics.

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.

Sport Policy and Development introduces the key themes in sport and social policy and provides students with a base for understanding the process of social policy creation more generally. Bringing a distinctively sociological perspective to the subject, the text provides a comprehensive analysis of the ways in which pro-sport policies are thought to influence the community and the individual.

It is difficult to fully understand the role that sport plays in contemporary global society without understanding how and why governments, NGOs and other organizations formulate and implement policy relating to sport. The Routledge Handbook of Sport Policy is the only book to offer a comprehensive overview of current perspectives, techniques and approaches to the analysis of sport policy around the world. The book introduces a diverse range of approaches to policy analysis across the full range of political and societal contexts, including developed and developing economies; state-centric, mixed economy and market-led systems, and both liberal democracies and political systems characterized by a dominant elite. It is arranged into five sections addressing the key topics and themes in the analysis of contemporary sport policy, including: theory and its implications for methodology globalization, governance, partnerships and networks elite sport policy development, sport and joint policy agendas sport policy and social theory. With contributions from leading policy analysts around the world, including Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia, this book is important reading for any student, researcher or professional working in sport management, sport development, sport and society, or mainstream public policy, policy analysis or social policy.