The voice of sport
Expressing a foreign policy through a silent cultural activity: The case of sport in French foreign policy after the Second World War
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19040504 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jacques Defrance (corresponding author), Jean Marc Chamot |
| Year | 2008 |
| Volume | 11 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 395-413 |
| Publication date | 2008-06-12 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Culture Sport Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1461-0981 • E-ISSN: 1743-0445 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/17430430802019342 |
| OpenAlex | W2043292742 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 10 |
This essay provides a sociological perspective of the role of sport as a potential factor in French foreign policy after the Second World War. It notes that while sportspersons and events can serve important political functions, their actual diplomatic value is not self-evident. Granting that sport is an 'autonomous social field', we nevertheless maintain that, at least until the end of the Cold War, it became subservient to politics where and whenever the political 'field' saw fit to utilize sport as a means to further 'higher' diplomatic interests. In other words, the sporting realm was only independent inasmuch as it had no significant bearing on political affairs. When sport became useful, it was co-opted by politics. In contemporary France, however, the dynamics of that relationship appear to be changing. Using the 2012 Paris Olympic bid to illustrate our argument, we suggest that the organs of the French state are perhaps weakening relative to the organs of sport; and concomitantly, that both a 'sportization' of politics, and a politicization of sports, is now underway. This is not to say that any sort of parity between the two fields has been achieved; rather, that they increasingly co-constitute one another, with no inevitable dominance on one side. That the terms and timing of the Paris bid were controlled more by the IOC than by the French state, is indicative of this new reality
Athletes · Foreign policy · Political science · Politics · World War II · French Historical and Cultural Studies · Law · Sport and Mega-Event Impacts · Sports, Gender, and Society
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,36 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2026 (15) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |