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- Convenor:
-
Laurence Cooley
(University of Birmingham)
- Location:
- Room 8 (Examination Schools)
- Start time:
- 13 September, 2016 at
Time zone: Europe/London
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
The declaration of the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals states that "Sport is…an important enabler of sustainable development". This panel seeks to understand how sport came to be included in the SDGs and to critically explore whether it can live up to these heady expectations.
Long Abstract:
The declaration accompanying the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals includes the statement: "Sport is also an important enabler of sustainable development. We recognize the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives". This panel seeks to critically examine the rise of the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector over the past two decades, with the aim of understanding how sport came to feature in the SDGs in this way and whether it is able to live up to the expectations placed on it by this statement. Papers that examine the role of SDP organisations and international sports governing bodies in lobbying for the inclusion of sport in the SDGs are particularly welcome, as are those as those that seek to historicise this inclusion. Papers might also include critical examinations of the contribution of sport to development and peace objectives, although preference will be given to those papers that go beyond analysis of single case studies and instead provide a broader comparative view that is likely to be of value when assessing the claims made for sport in the SDG declaration.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Laurence Cooley (University of Birmingham)
Paper short abstract:
This paper situates the inclusion of sport in the Sustainable Development Goals in the broader context of the emergence and growth of the Sport for Development and Peace sector, and seeks to identify the causes and key actors that explain this inclusion.
Paper long abstract:
Paragraph 37 of the declaration accompanying the recently adopted Sustainable Development Goals states: "Sport is also an important enabler of sustainable development. We recognize the growing contribution of sport to the realization of development and peace in its promotion of tolerance and respect and the contributions it makes to the empowerment of women and of young people, individuals and communities as well as to health, education and social inclusion objectives". This paper seeks to situate this inclusion of sport in the SDGs in the broader context of the emergence of the Sport for Development and Peace sector over the past two decades, and to explain how sport, perhaps surprisingly, came to feature in this important global policy declaration. In doing so, it identifies both the key factors that might explain the turn to sport in global development policy and the actors who have been crucial to the promotion of sport as a potential enabler of development.
Iain Lindsey Tony Chapman (Durham University)
Paper short abstract:
This paper draws on analysis of the potential contribution of sport to the 2030 Agenda to interrogate the extent to which the aspirations, implementation and measurement of the Sustainable Development Goals may be ‘integrated and indivisible’ in practice.
Paper long abstract:
The 2030 Agenda asserts the 'integrated and indivisible' nature of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In doing so, it draws upon longstanding conceptions of sustainable development that emphasise the need for balance across economic, social and environmental dimensions. However, the aspiration and possibilities of integrated, indivisible and balanced development need renewed critical appraisal in respect of specific aspirations and frameworks set out in the 2030 Agenda. Sport can provide a valuable analytic lens for this purpose, not only given the status accorded to it as an 'important enabler of sustainable development', but especially because of the various intersections between sport and a significant number of the SDGs. Analysis presented in this paper encompasses three dimensions by which the 'integrated and indivisible' assertion can be interrogated. First, attention is given to how sport could feasibly contribute to different SDGs. Existing evidence points to the possibilities for proactive use of sport to address some development objectives, but also to longstanding problems and contradictions within sport that may hinder its impact. Second, analysis of the potential 'means of implementation' raises issues regarding the need for and likelihood of integrated contributions across a wide and diverse range of stakeholders, both within and beyond sport. Third, the extent to which integrated and indivisible measurement of progress is feasible within the frameworks provided by the 2030 Agenda will be considered. Conclusions drawn across these three dimensions will have relevance to broader debates with regard to the 2030 Agenda as well as those concerned with sport specifically.
Richard Giulianotti Holly Collison (Brunel University) P. David Howe (Loughborough University) Simon Darnell (University of Toronto)
Paper short abstract:
This paper draws extensively on a multi-site research project to discuss sustainability within the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector. We discuss the historical emergence, diverse meanings, and challenging political contexts for sustainability within SDP.
Paper long abstract:
This paper draws extensively on findings from an ongoing multi-site research project to discuss critically the issue of sustainability with respect to the Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) sector. We outline the emergence of the SDP sector since the early 1990s, and the growing relevance of sustainability issues for SDP projects and initiatives. We examine the power relations and networks within SDP, and consider the subsequent diverse meanings of sustainability for the different stakeholders within the sector. We explore how sustainable development is pursued in particular through strategies of adaptation and network-building by stakeholders. We locate the SDP sustainability agenda within both the wider political context of global North-South relations, and the complex and often difficult links between everyday SDP work and structural inequalities and divisions.
Tarminder Kaur (University of the Free State)
Paper short abstract:
This paper interrogates the semiotic construction of a global movement, come to known as "Sport-for-Development-and-Peace" (SDP). Deconstructing the discourses and logics of SDP demonstrates how these rely on tautology, equivocation and self-referentiality.
Paper long abstract:
Sport as a Human Right, enshrined by internationally influential agencies of the likes of the United Nations (UN), the International Olympic Committee, among others, has taken a practical and instrumental turn in the form of SDP over the last 15 or so years. SDP finds its significance and legitimacy in proclamations, resolutions, reports and practices, where sport is promoted as a tool to achieve a broad range of "development" objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). While sport's association with education, character building and youth socialisation can be traced back to the 18th century notions of 'Muscular Christianity', the UN's endorsement of secularised sport has thoroughly institutionalised SDP as a global phenomenon. A closer deconstruction of SDP discourses, claims, and reports, reveals a kind of a tautology at play: where calls for "hard evidence" to prove sport's "development" utility are made to support and guide SDP policies and practice, and sport's recognition on international development policies, the UN endorsements and declarations are referred to, and accentuated, as evidence. As the recent report from the UN office for SDP claims, sport is likely to remain relevant as a necessary component in the post-MDG era of Sustainable Development Goals. In the context where sport-based interventions have such political legitimacy and can play a deeply political role, a critical interrogation of semiotic construction of SDP discourses reveals limitations and contradictions in such projections.