This book offers an accessible overview of the role sport plays in international relations and diplomacy. Sports diplomacy has previously been defined as an old but under-studied aspect of the estranged relations between peoples, nations and states. These days, it is better understood as the conscious, strategic and ongoing use of sport, sportspeople and sporting events by state and non-state actors to advance policy, trade, development, education, image, reputation, brand, and people-to-people links. In order to better understand the many occasions where sport and diplomacy overlap, this book presents four new, inter-disciplinary and theoretical categories of sports diplomacy: traditional, ‘new’, sport-as-diplomacy, and sports anti-diplomacy. These categories are further validated by a large number of case studies, ranging from the Ancient Olympiad to the recent appearance of esoteric, government sports diplomacy strategies, and beyond, to the activities of non-state sporting actors such as F.C. Barcelona, Colin Kaepernick and the digital world of e-sports. As a result, the landscape of sports diplomacy becomes clearer, as do the pitfalls and limitations of using sport as a diplomatic tool. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy, foreign policy, sports studies, and International Relations in general.
Author(s): Stuart Murray
Series: Routledge New Diplomacy Studies
Edition: 1st Edition
Publisher: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 275
Tags: Sports And State: History, Diplomacy: Social Aspects, International Relations: Social Aspects
Cover......Page 1
Half Title......Page 4
Book Title......Page 6
Copyright......Page 7
Dedication......Page 8
Contents......Page 10
Acknowledgements......Page 13
Framing sports diplomacy......Page 14
Re-conceptualising sports diplomacy: towards a new, quadripartite framework......Page 19
Aims, theory and parameters......Page 21
Let the games begin......Page 22
References......Page 24
Sport, diplomacy and traditional sports diplomacy......Page 28
Framing and challenging the stereotype of diplomacy and diplomats......Page 30
A revised anthropology of diplomacy......Page 33
From the cave to the conference table: the long and storied diplomatic continuum......Page 35
Traditional diplomacy defined......Page 42
Notes......Page 46
References......Page 47
Is cheese rolling actually a sport?......Page 50
The great leveller: sport, anthropology and early human societies......Page 52
The impact of Greece and Rome on sport......Page 58
Sport in modern times......Page 63
References......Page 68
3 Traditional sports diplomacy......Page 72
Traditional sports diplomacy contextualised and defined......Page 73
The eerie similarities between sport and diplomacy......Page 75
Traditional sports diplomacy: hijacking and rebranding......Page 77
We’re not playing: boycotts and traditional sports diplomacy......Page 81
The informal sports diplomacy summit......Page 83
Low-risk traditional sports diplomacy......Page 86
Critical reflections on traditional sports diplomacy......Page 88
Notes......Page 93
References......Page 94
Sports diplomacy in the twenty-first century......Page 100
The new diplomatic agenda......Page 102
Sports diplomacy as a response to the ‘death’ of diplomacy......Page 103
The attraction of sports diplomacy to MFAs: definitions, characteristics and benefits......Page 106
Sports diplomacy as an expression of a nation’s culture......Page 110
Notes......Page 120
References......Page 121
Public sports diplomacy......Page 126
Networked sports diplomacy......Page 131
Limitations of sports diplomacy......Page 135
The importance of learning from sporting failures......Page 138
Notes......Page 140
References......Page 141
Non-state sporting actors and diplomacy......Page 146
The international society of sport......Page 148
Framing international sport as a type of diplomacy......Page 150
The political and diplomatic character of sport......Page 153
NSSAs, diplomacy and representation......Page 156
The biggest NSSA diplomat: the IOC......Page 160
Sport as a representative of the ‘little guy’......Page 164
The power of sport to represent......Page 170
Notes......Page 171
References......Page 172
7 Non-state sporting actors: Communication......Page 178
Communication, sport and NGOs......Page 179
Sports diplomats: real, credible heroes......Page 182
Sports diplomats: old and new virtuosos......Page 187
New roles for old players: teams, regimes and TNCs......Page 189
Notes......Page 192
References......Page 193
Negotiating international sport......Page 197
Sports diplomacy, intelligence gathering and dissemination......Page 200
Sport and the minimisation of friction in international affairs......Page 202
Notes......Page 209
References......Page 210
The dark side of international sport......Page 214
Timeout: was Rodman actually duped?......Page 216
Sport, politics and diplomacy should not mix......Page 220
The twenty-first century: politicians as the neo-emperors of sport......Page 222
Sport, nationalism and diplomacy......Page 224
Diplomacy and war, minus the shooting......Page 227
References......Page 230
10 Sports anti-diplomacy: Brats, neo-emperors, hooligans and terrorists......Page 234
Are sportspeople actually diplomatic?......Page 235
Regimes: who guards the guards?......Page 238
Sports anti-diplomacy and war … with real shooting, violence and terror......Page 246
References......Page 254
Duality, the ‘withering’ state and new diplomacies......Page 261
The sports report......Page 263
Utopia: recommendations for theory and practice......Page 266
References......Page 271
Index......Page 273
