Jonathan Grix

Why do governments invest in elite sport? A polemic

Elite sport currently enjoys high levels of investment in many advanced capitalist countries. The primary aim of this piece is to introduce and unpack the reasons generally given by states for prioritizing and investing in elite sport. While our core focus is the UK sport policy sector, many of the discussions will be relevant for other, advanced liberal capitalist systems (e.g. Australia and Canada) and even the now defunct dictatorships (e.g. the Soviet Union and the GDR). We show how commonsensical propositions (e.g. ‘elite sport success promotes participation among citizens’) are not always based on wide, existing research and evidence. The philosophy behind the United Kingdoms model of sport – and that of several other advanced states – we term a ‘virtuous cycle’ of sport, whereby elite sport success is seen to lead to both international prestige for the nation, a ‘feel-good factor’ among the population and, importantly, to an increase in participation among the masses. This, in turn, leads to a healthier nation and to a wider pool of people from which to pick the champions of the future. This article takes a closer look at the assumptions underlying such a model of sport.

Revisiting the ‘Governance Narrative’: ‘Asymmetrical Network Governance’ and the Deviant Case of the Sports Policy Sector

This article offers an empirical counter-example to the tenets of the increasingly popular conceptualisation of British Politics and policy as having shifted from ‘big’ Government to governance by networks and partnerships. We point to the paradox in many policy sectors: an outward appearance of ‘new’ multi-agency governance that would appear to confirm the ‘governance narrative’. However, the underlying hierarchical power structures at work in sectors such as sport policy (discussed here) and education suggest such cases are deviant and do not fit the ‘governance narrative’ ideal-type. Further, we put forward the notion of ‘asymmetrical network governance’ to highlight the modified forms of governance which still rest on asymmetrical power relations and largely unchanged patterns of resource dependency operating in the sports policy sector at both elite and mass participation levels. We argue for a more differentiated analysis of policy sectors, as the implications of applying broad-brush understandings of structural change to all areas of policy can be misleading and can fail to take into account the continuing high degree of central control over policy design and outcomes.

Soft Power, Sports Mega-Events and Emerging States: The Lure of the Politics of Attraction

This article highlights and analyses a hitherto largely neglected dimension to the growing agency of large developing countries in global affairs: their hosting of international sports mega-events. Why are large developing countries hosting sports mega-events and what does this contemporary phenomenon tell us about the significance of, for example, the Olympics and the World Cup in global affairs? We explore these questions through brief examination of the cases of the three most active sports mega-event hosting states in recent times: Brazil, China and South Africa. The 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and the upcoming 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil provide interesting examples with which to explore developing country agency in the international system and in particular the discursive basis of that agency. We see the hosting of sports mega-events as the practice of public diplomacy by states to both demonstrate existing soft power capability as well as pursue its further enhancement.

The ‘governance debate’ and the study of sport policy

The ‘governance debate’ is one of the most influential intellectual conceptualisations of recent changes in British politics and policy in the fields of public administration and political science. This paper has two purposes: first, it introduces sport policy scholars and students to the contours of the ‘governance debate’ and how it has developed through the first-wave ‘governance narrative’ to the interpretivist-inspired ‘decentred approach’ which has taken the disciplines of political science and public administration in new, innovative directions. The second purpose of the paper is to critically assess the ‘decentred approach’ and offer a modified version that can be applied to the study of sport policy. The final section introduces part of an empirical study on County Sport Partnerships undertaken using a modified version of the ‘decentred approach’ to governance.

‘Image’ leveraging and sports mega-events: Germany and the 2006 FIFA World Cup

The broader setting for this research is the increase in willingness of governments of all political hues to stage sports mega-events. The paper starts from the observation that many states have and do instrumentalise sport to promote their countrys image or ‘brand’ and attempt to gain prestige. This paper argues that Germany employed a deliberate leveraging strategy to improve their nations (poor) image abroad. How did Germany do this? This study focuses on three aspects that were central to Germanys leveraging tactics: a series of long-term, carefully co-ordinated campaigns; the focus on a ‘fan-centred’ approach to the organisation of the event and the creation of a ‘feelgood factor’ around the tournament. More broadly, the article seeks to contribute to the nascent literature on leveraging sports mega-events by employing Chalips 2004 model of leveraging legacies as an organising principle and focusing on strategies to improve a nations image used by Germany.

Centralized grassroots sport policy and ‘new governance’: A case study of County Sports Partnerships in the UK – unpacking the paradox

This article offers the first empirical account of the role of County Sport Partnerships (CSPs) in delivering grassroots sport policy in the UK. Current leading academic approaches to policy delivery in the UK suggest that we have witnessed a move from ‘big’ government to governance by and through networks and partnerships. Such a process is said to have led to a dispersal of power among many actors and diminished the ability of the state to control policy. Our empirical study of CSPs – including 10 in-depth interviews with key actors – suggests otherwise: grassroots sport policy delivery does take place via ‘partnerships’, but such arrangements are not to be confused with ‘new governance’. On the contrary, government policy delivery has never been so centrally managed, monitored and controlled.

Sport Politics and the Olympics

Sport and politics have long been linked, but the Olympic Games represent the most political sports event of all. The following article focuses on two of the most important aspects of the Olympics (and sports ‘mega-events’ in general) that students of politics and international relations could make a major contribution towards: the use of the Olympics by states to showcase the host nation and the hoped-for ‘legacies’ that arise from them. Both aspects are, of course, interlinked: the ‘legacies’ are often put forward as the key rationale for the bidding for, and hosting of, the Olympics.

The impact of UK sport policy on the governance of athletics

This article explores the impact of UK sport policy on the governance of athletics in the UK. It argues that UK Athletics (UKA) has been profoundly influenced by the Labour governments wider modernisation agenda, which saw the increasing involvement of central government and its agencies in public policy. The article draws on the debates around the term ‘New Managerialism’ as a way of understanding how and why UKA has modernised its values, techniques and practices along business lines. The paper traces the impact this has had on UKA policy and how this has led UKA management to develop a narrow, short-term target-centred approach to athletics. Finally, the paper argues that the modernisation of UKA along ‘new managerialist’ lines has led to a shift in national governing body (NGB) accountability away from its stakeholders, including the grass-roots, and up towards UK Sport.

Interrogating States’ Soft Power Strategies: A Case Study of Sports Mega-Events in Brazil and the UK

Central to this article is the use of sports mega-events as part of a states “soft power” strategy. The article offers two things: first, a critique of the “soft power” concept and a clearer understanding of what it refers to by drawing on the political use of sports mega-events by states; second, the article seeks to understand how and why sports mega-events are attractive to states with different political systems and at different stages of economic development. To this end a case study of an advanced capitalist state (London Olympics, 2012) and a so-called “emerging” state (FIFA World Cup, 2014; Rio Olympics, 2016) will be undertaken in order to shed light on the role of sports events as part of soft power strategies across different categories of states.

Moral disengagement and associated processes in performance-enhancing drug use: a national qualitative investigation

Abstract This study investigated psychosocial processes associated with avoidance of health- and morality-based deterrents to performance-enhancing drug (PED) use. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 64 English male bodybuilders with experience of doping. Resultant data were content analysed deductively using definitions for the eight mechanisms of moral disengagement (MD; Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of moral thought and action. In W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Handbook of moral behavior and development: Theory research and applications (pp. 71–129). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.), and three further themes from Boardley and Grix (2013. Doping in bodybuilders: A qualitative investigation of facilitative psychosocial processes. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise, and Health. Advance online publication, doi 10.1080/2159676X.2013.766809). These analyses evidenced six MD mechanisms, and all three of the themes from Boardley and Grix (2013. Doping in bodybuilders: A qualitative investigation of facilitative psychosocial processes. Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise, and Health. Advance online publication). Subsequent frequency analyses revealed six of the eight MD mechanisms, and two of the three additional themes, were common across the sample. Overall, the findings suggest MD may help athletes circumvent health- and morality-based deterrents to doping, describe a process linking supplement and PED use and detail how some athletes may actively avoid social censure for doping by only discussing PED use with other PED users from within their training environment.