Sport Policy in Small States

Sport Policy in Small States
Author: Michael Sam
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 249
Release: 2018-02-02
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1317381610

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.

The Success of Small States in International Relations

The Success of Small States in International Relations
Author: Godfrey Baldacchino
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2023-06-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1000892123

The Success of Small States in International Relations highlights the normality and power of small states in international relations. This book overturns the stereotype that small states, however defined, are weak and are, or ought to be, consigned to the margins of international relations. It argues that small states are not ‘punching above their weight’, or even anomalies – since it is large states which are the anomaly in the global system. The text unpacks the nature and character of small state success, while also looking critically at thirteen episodes in modern history where small states, singly or collectively, emerged victorious in confrontations with larger states. The case studies, globally sourced, are bookended by conceptual and analytic reviews of what these events mean for diplomacy, international relations and small states more generally. This book will appeal to scholars and students of comparative political science and international relations, particularly from small states, as well as policy makers and senior small state government officers.

Routledge Handbook of Youth Sport

Routledge Handbook of Youth Sport
Author: Ken Green
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 612
Release: 2016-01-08
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1134469934

The Routledge Handbook of Youth Sport is a comprehensive survey of the latest research into young people’s involvement in sport. Drawing on a wide diversity of disciplines, including sociology, psychology, policy studies, coaching, physical education and physiology, the book examines the importance of sport during a key transitional period of our lives, from the later teenage years into the early twenties, and therefore helps us develop a better understanding of the social construction of young people’s lives. The book covers youth sport in all its forms, from competitive game-contests and conventional sport to recreational activities, exercise and lifestyle sport, and at all levels, from elite competition to leisure time activities and school physical education. It explores youth sport across the world, in developing and developed countries, and touches on some of the most significant themes and issues in contemporary sport studies, including physical activity and health, lifelong participation, talent identification and development, and safeguarding and abuse. No other book brings together in one place such a breadth and depth of material on youth sport or the engagement of young people in physical activity. The Routledge Handbook of Youth Sport is therefore important reading for all advanced students, researchers, practitioners and policy-makers with an interest in youth sport, youth culture, sport studies or physical education.

Sport Policy in China

Sport Policy in China
Author: Jinming Zheng
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2018-08-30
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1351685368

Acknowledging China’s established status as a global sporting superpower, this is the first book to systematically investigate sport policy in that country. With a focus on sport development in the most recent three decades, Sport Policy in China explores a wide range of topics in Chinese sport, including elite sport development, professional sports, major sports events, sport for all, the political context within which sport is interiorised and the distinctive sporting status of Hong Kong. It examines the debates around policy, globalisation, diplomacy and soft power, as well as the significance of the principle of ‘one country, two systems’. With international appeal, this book is a valuable resource for students and researchers in the fields of sport policy, sport management, sport development and sport sociology.

Sports Diplomacy

Sports Diplomacy
Author: Michal Marcin Kobierecki
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 329
Release: 2020-05-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1793602212

This book analyzes the place and role of sport within public diplomacy, including theoretical conceptualizations of the category of sports diplomacy as a sub-category of public diplomacy and empirical research of selected examples of the use of sport within public diplomacy. The empirical part of the book refers to three approaches to sports diplomacy and concerns the utilization of sport by states in order to shape relations with other states, the role of sport in building the international image of a state and the diplomatic subjectivity of international sports organizations. In reference to the first two approaches, the book uses comparative case study was in order to make observations and generalizations concerning sports diplomacy. Apart from that, the book includes a detailed study of the diplomatic subjectivity of the International Olympic Committee.

Routledge Handbook of the Sociology of Sport

Routledge Handbook of the Sociology of Sport
Author: Richard Giulianotti
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 492
Release: 2015-07-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1134116624

The sociology of sport is a core discipline within the academic study of sport. It helps us to understand what sport is and why it matters. Sociological knowledge, implicit or explicit, therefore underpins scholarly enquiry into sport in every aspect. The Routledge Handbook of the Sociology of Sport is a landmark publication that brings together the most important themes, theories and issues within the sociology of sport, tracing the contours of the discipline and surveying the state-of-the-art. Part One explores the main theories and analytical approaches that define contemporary sport sociology and introduces the most important methodological issues confronting researchers working in the social scientific study of sport. Part Two examines the connections and divisions between sociology and cognate disciplines within sport studies, including history, anthropology, economics, leisure and tourism studies, philosophy, politics and psychology. Part Three investigates how the most important social divisions within sport, and in wider society, are addressed in sport sociology, including ‘race‘, gender, class, sexuality and disability. Part Four explores a wide range of pressing contemporary issues associated with sport, including sport and the body, social problems associated with sport, sport places and settings, and the global aspects of sport. Written by a team of leading international sport scholars, including many of the most well-known, respected and innovative thinkers working in the discipline, the Routledge Handbook of the Sociology of Sport is an essential reference for any student, researcher or professional with an interest in sport.

Elite Youth Sport Policy and Management

Elite Youth Sport Policy and Management
Author: Elsa Kristiansen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 278
Release: 2016-10-04
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1317498798

Elite youth sport competitions have increased significantly in number in recent years, with the Youth Olympic Games representing the high point of this phenomenon. This book examines the global context within which elite youth sport has emerged and continues to grow. It explores elite youth sport policy across fifteen countries, in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, addressing the questions of how youth talent development is organised and why elite youth sport has become so popular. Taking a comparative global perspective, the book analyses the growth in more systematic approaches to young athlete development and the increasing emphasis on early talent identification. It discusses the attitude of stakeholders (such as NGBs, governments and sponsors) towards elite youth sport, while also considering how young elite athletes’ interests are protected and how the growth in elite youth sport affects a sport’s development strategy. Written by a team of internationally renowned researchers, Elite Youth Sport Policy and Management: A comparative analysis is fascinating reading for all students, scholars, managers, policy-makers and coaches with an interest in youth sport, elite sport development, talent identification and sports policy.

The SAGE Handbook of Sport Management

The SAGE Handbook of Sport Management
Author: Russell Hoye
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 595
Release: 2016-11-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1473959233

The SAGE Handbook of Sport Management draws together the best current research on the major topics relevant to the field of sports management, including leadership, gender, diversity, development, policy, tourism, and media. Edited by two of the most respected figures in the field, the handbook includes contributions from leading sport management academics from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, USA, the UK and Europe.

The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Society

The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Society
Author: Lawrence A. Wenner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 1201
Release: 2022-10-11
Genre: Mass media and sports
ISBN: 0197519016

"The Oxford Handbook of Sport and Society features leading international scholars' assessments of scholarly inquiry about sport and society. Divided into six sections, chapters consider dominant issues within key areas, approaches (theory and method) featured in inquiry, and debates needing resolution. Part I: Society and Values considers matters of character, ideology, power, politics, policy, nationalism, diplomacy, militarism, law, ethics, and religion. Part II: Enterprise and Capital considers globalization, spectacle, mega-events, Olympism, corruption, impacts on cities, communities, and the environment, and the press of leadership cultures, economic imperatives, and marketing. Part III: Participation and Cultures considers questions of health and well-being, violence, the medicalization of injury, influences of science and technology, substance use and abuse, the roles of coaching and emotion, challenges of child maltreatment, climates for scandal and athlete activism, and questions over animals in sporting competition. Part IV: Lifespan and Careers considers child socialization, youth and elite athlete development, the roles of sport in education and social mobility, migratory sport labor practices, arcs defining athletic careers, aging, and retirement, and emergent lifestyle sport cultures. Part V: Inclusion and Exclusion considers sport's role in social inclusion and exclusion, development and discrimination, and features treatments of race and ethnicity, indigenous experiences, the intersection of bodily ideals, obesity, and disability, and the gendered impacts on masculinities, femininities, and non-binary experience. Part VI: Spectator Engagement and Media considers sporting heroism and celebrity, fandom and hooliganism, gambling and match-fixing, and the influences of sport journalism, television and film treatments, advertising, and new media"--

Success and Failure of Countries at the Olympic Games

Success and Failure of Countries at the Olympic Games
Author: Danyel Reiche
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 189
Release: 2016-07-01
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1317632761

The Olympic Games is undoubtedly the greatest sporting event in the world, with over 200 countries competing for success. This important new study of the Olympics investigates why some countries are more successful than others. Which factors determine their failure or success? What is the relationship between these factors? And how can these factors be manipulated to influence a country’s performance in sport? This book addresses these questions and discusses the theoretical concepts that explain why national sporting success has become a policy priority around the globe. Danyel Reiche reassesses our understanding of success in sport and challenges the conventional explanations that population size and economic strength are the main determinants for a country’s Olympic achievements. He presents a theory of countries’ success and failure, based on detailed investigations of the relationships between a wide variety of factors that influence a country’s position in the Olympic medals table, including geography, ideology, policies such as focusing on medal promising sports, home advantage and the promotion of women. This book fills a long-standing gap in literature on the Olympics and will provide valuable insights for all students, scholars, policy makers and journalists interested in the Olympic Games and the wider relationship between sport, politics, and nationalism.