The Olympic Movement and the Sport of Peacemaking

Edited by Ramón Spaaij and Cindy Burleson

Sport and peacemaking have evolved. It is no longer the case that the Olympic Games and war games exist in isolation from each other. Increasingly, policymakers, peacekeepers, athletes, development workers, presidents of nations and others combine forces in an “integrated” approach towards peace.

This approach is located not only within the broader, historically evolved Olympic Movement but also in relation to a newly emerged social movement which promotes development and peace through sport. This book critically examines the ways in which this development is being played out at global, national and local levels, particularly in relation to the Olympic Movement and initiatives such as the biennial Olympic Truce Resolution.

The volume constitutes a unique scholarly attempt to provide an in-depth comparative analysis of the sport of peacemaking in the context of the Olympic Movement. Through international comparison and empirically grounded case studies, the book provides an important new departure in the study of the social impact of the Olympic Movement and related peacemaking efforts. It discusses these issues from a range of academic disciplines, including history, sociology, political science, economics, geography, philosophy and international relations.

This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Routledge | 31 May, 2013
ISBN 9780415618786

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Introduction

Olympic rings of peace? The Olympic movement, peacemaking and intercultural understanding by Ramón Spaaij

Part I: Philosophical and historical foundations

The power of sport in peacemaking and peacekeeping by Jim Parry
Pierre de Coubertin’s vision of the role of sport in peaceful internationalism by Irena Martínková
The ancient Olympic Truce in modern-day peacekeeping: revisiting Ekecheiria by Cindy Burleson

Part II: Global politics and international relations

An overlooked path to peace and stability: sport, the state, and the case of the Koreas by Darin H. Van Tassell and Dené A. Terry
Transforming an international organization: norm confusion and the International Olympic Committee by Dan Bousfield and Jean Michel Montsion
More than just Games: the global politics of the Olympic movement by Liam Stockdale

Part III: Development and peace legacies

The Paralympic Games as a force for peaceful coexistence by Ian Brittain
Olympism in Action, Olympic hosting and the politics of ‘sport for development and peace’: investigating the promises of Rio 2016 by Simon Darnell
Accounting for legacy: monitoring and evaluation in sport in development relationships by Tess Kay
Epilogue: London 2012 and beyond: concluding reflections on peacemaking, sport and the Olympic movement by Ramón Spaaij and Cindy Burleson

Editors

Ramón Spaaij

Ramón Spaaij is an Associate Professor in the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living at Victoria University, Australia, and holds a Professorial Chair in Sociology of Sport at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. His publications include Sport and Social Exclusion in Global Society (2014) and Sport and Social Mobility: Crossing Boundaries (2011).