Sport, Politics & Policy

Sport is integrated across all sectors of society (public, private and voluntary) and it is often characterised by a messy co-mingling of the three. Changes in policy (or the introduction of new policies) invariably entail an attempt to change the structure or balance of real power within/between organisations. Analysing the politics around these processes is worthy of attention because they not only reflect citizen demands - they shape expectations as well, giving issues like ‘obesity’, or ‘medal counts’ legitimacy in the public domain. This session welcomes papers having a focus on politics and policy as they relate to matters of the state (both local and federal), supra-national institutions and sport governing bodies.