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Global Sports Policy
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Global Sports Policy



November 2012 | 240 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd
"Lifts the analysis out of the nuts and bolts of sports policy and into some really thought-provoking areas which will equip the policy maker for the challenges of the 21st century"
- Dominic Malcolm, Loughborough University

"This is an excellent analysis of the significance of globalisation for national sport policy and especially of the impact of global processes at the local socio-cultural level"
- Barrie Houlihan, Loughborough University

Drawing upon a range of empirical case studies, Catherine Palmer situates sports policy within a broader consideration of global processes, practices and consequences, exploring the relationship between:

  • the local and the global
  • globalization and governance
  • new technologies
  • human rights
  • the environment
  • corporate responsibility.

In doing so she sets out the ground for an understanding of policy making in sport and how this affects society.

Covering both theory and practice, it is a detailed and thought provoking resource for students of sports policy, sports development, sports management and sports studies.
Introduction

 
 
PART ONE: KEY DEBATES IN GLOBALIZATION AND SPORTS POLICY
 
Globalization, Sport and Policy
 
The Local and the Global in Sports Policy
 
Globalization and the Governance of Sports Policy
 
Network Policy - New Technologies and Global Sports Policy
 
Social Theory, Globalization and Sports Policy in a Risk Society
 
PART TWO: GLOBALIZATION AND SPORTING MEGA-EVENTS: POLICY IMPLICATIONS
 
Globalization, Policy and Sporting Mega-Events
 
Safety, Security and the Policing of Sporting Mega-Events
 
Mega-Events, Sports Policy and Human Rights
 
Mega-Events, the Environment and Corporate Responsibility
 
Reflections on Global Sports Policy

This is a thoroughly stimulating and informative text. Catherine Palmer's use of sociological theory, and theories of globalization in particular, lifts the analysis out of the nuts and bolts of sports policy and into some really thought-provoking areas which will equip the policy maker for the challenges of the 21st century
Dominic Malcolm
Loughborough University


This is an excellent analysis of the significance of globalisation for national sport policy and especially of the impact global processes at the local socio-cultural level. The book provides the reader with an empirically rich and theoretically stimulating insight into the interconnection between global processes and the experience of sport policy at the personal and community levels. Palmer's book is an important addition to the literature on sport policy-making
Barrie Houlihan
Loughborough University


Every once in a while a book comes along and you have to say to yourself, "finally"! Catherine Palmer's Global Sports Policy culls and summarizes over two decades worth of research on the global relevance of sport, the impact of the global sport infrastructure on private, public and popular culture, and the increasing degree to which sport is celebrated in policy circles as a universal panacea. Global Sports Policy is a refreshingly sociological account of burgeoning policy movements in the world of sport, balanced by empirical case studies and Palmer's ability to present complex socio-political analyses of sport through accessible language. Faculty members and students will appreciate its truly pan-continental focus on the subject area, and diverse theoretical engagement with the subject. Here, Palmer includes both the theoretical and substantive 'usual suspects' in policy discussions, and a more extended and nuanced case analysis of sports mega-events.

Global Sports Policy will be most prized amongst sociologists of sport for its keen presentation of how policy matters in global sports arena illuminate core sociological questions relating to the distribution of power in society, the nature and effects of social inequality, modernist institutionalism, how social engineering is attempted through cross-national institutions, and the relationship between human and non-human networks including the environment. The book represents the ongoing 'opening up' of the sociology of sport across and within international spaces, and her illustration of the global significance of sport at private and public policy levels underlines the global sensitivity regarding the meaning of sport in diverse cultural spaces. Global Sports Policy is a text for anyone seeking an example of how to conduct a broad-scale sociological analysis of sport, and for those heretofore unconvinced by the ongoing relevance of the social sciences in policy-based discussions across the planet.
Michael Atkinson
Associate Professor in Kinesiology and Physical Education at the University of Toronto


Catherine Palmer knows both sports and social theory from the inside. I cannot think of a better guide to the ways they come together in globalization.

Ulf Hannerz Professor Emeritus of Social Anthropology
Stockholm University, Sweden


Overall, this is a solid account that adds to the literature on global sport and particularly the place of policy within this fast-developing arena of scholarly work. The text will be a useful one for lecturers and students engaging in courses such as sport governance, sports policy and international sport management. Palmer’s anthropological expertise and experience in this area offers a particular vantage point and complements much of the previously published work written by those who have focused more on the business and management aspects of the global sports industry.

John Harris
Glasgow Caledonian University

Global Sports Policy provides a very informative, timely, critical, and well-written point of departure for understanding the social aspects of globalization in relation to sports policy.

Millicent Kennelly, Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith University, Gold Coast
Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events

A really comprehensive text

Ms Louise Morby
Carnegie Faculty of Sports & Education, Leeds Beckett University
March 11, 2021

Excellent book appropriate for our Business of Professional Sport module. Provides students with an overview of Globalisation in relation to global sports policy.

Dr Alison Forbes
Institute of Sport, Wolverhampton University
September 6, 2019

An excellent review of the current policy make up within the sports industry on a local, national and international scale. This text fills the gaps that many other key texts have left regarding policy factors affecting sport.

Mr Mark Treagust
Dept of Applied Health Sciences, Farnborough College of Technology
October 28, 2014

An excellent addition to the sports policy subject area which is highlighted by the range of contemporary examples used to clarify key debates.

Mr Mike Rayner
Sport and Exercise Department, Portsmouth University
May 28, 2014

This is an very good introduction to globalisation and sport policy. The chapters on mega sporting events are particularly useful for the studnets.

Dr Jung Woo Lee
Institute for Sport, Physical Education & Health Sciences, The University of Edinburgh
November 21, 2013

I have placed several sections from this book on the reading list for the module. Based on feedback from students this year, I will consider adding more in future.

Dr Simon Darnell
School of Applied Social Sciences, Durham University
September 11, 2013

This text compliments the growing domestic and comparative sport policy literature and provides the first truly global perspective I have seen.

Mr Paul Salisbury
Sport, Health, Leisure and Nutrition, Leeds Trinity and All Saints
July 23, 2013

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1


For instructors

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