Small states: sport and politics at the margin

Abstract

This file was dowloaded from the institutional repository Brage NIH -brage.bibsys.no/nih Houlihan, B., Zheng, J. (2015). Small states: sport and politics at the margin.International Journal of Sport Policy and politics, 7,[329][330][331][332][333][334][335][336][337][338][339][340][341][342][343][344] Dette er siste tekst-versjon av artikkelen, og den kan inneholde små forskjeller fra forlagets pdf-versjon. Forlagets pdf-versjon finner du på www.tandfonline.com: http://dx.doi.org/10. 1080/19406940.2014.959032 This is the final text version of the article, and it may contain minor differences from the journal's pdf version. Commonwealth Games. Of the 71 countries and territories that took part 52 had populations below 10m of which 39 had populations below 1.5m. Thirty-five countries did not win a single medal of which 23 had populations below 500,000. The aim of this paper is to address this apparent paradox of presence yet marginality. The aim will be achieved by the identification of the objectives of small states for participation in international sport and investing in elite sport and the analysis of the strategies that small states adopt to maximise their ability to achieve their sport and non-sport objectives.

Responding to globalisation: The case of elite artistic gymnastics in China

“…Nations are subjected to the rules and regulations of the IOC and corresponding IFs to strive for success within their ruling systems and thereby interact with competing nations. As Houlihan and Zheng (2015: 341) argued, ‘most states, even the wealthy, adopt an elite sport policy that is heavily influenced, if not determined, by the decisions of the IOC on the sports to be included in the summer and winter Games’. The IOC and IFs have locked these nations ‘on to a path from which it is difficult for them to deviate’ (Houlihan and Zheng, 2013: 338).…”

Contested states and the politics of sport: the case of Kosovo – division, development, and recognition

“…Elsewhere, the former German Democratic Republic sought to bolster international legitimacy and recognition through international sport federation membership and elite-level sporting success, particularly in the Olympic Games. Second, Houlihan and Zheng (2015) identify various sport-focused strategies employed by small states, two of which are partly applicable to Kosovo: isomorphism/imitation, which involves 'adopting the sporting interests of a sports power or a cluster of sports powers', and camp follower, which entails 'ingratiating themselves with major states or with major international sport organizations ' (2015: 335). These categories may be adapted for Kosovo, where the adoption and spread of sports occurred long before claims to national sovereignty were pursued, and where there were other important motives for involvement in international sport organizations, notably escaping the sense of exclusion from international sport participation and wider society.…”

The role of sport in reflecting and shaping group dynamics: The “intergroup relations continuum” and its application to Fijian rugby and soccer

“…Among this vast scholarship, sport has attracted the interest of researchers concerned with collective identities, tribal affiliations, and intergroup rivalries (Bairner, 2015;Heere, 2016;Kanemasu & Molnar, 2013). Indeed, the globalization of sport as both practice and product has provoked scholars to speak to the power of sport both in and across societies (Boyle, 2009;Brannagan & Giulianotti, 2015;Wolff, 2011), and it has been appropriated for various social, political, and economic purposes (Allison, 1986;Grix, 2013;Houlihan & Zheng, 2015). There is, of course, an inherent duality about sport's potential in human relations.…”