PLACING ATHLETE RIGHTS AT THE HEART OF GOOD GOVERNANCE IN SPORT: LEVERAGING IDEATIONAL POWER, DEMOCRATISING GOVERNANCE
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.30925/slpdj.2.2.3Keywords:
Athlete rights, Good governance, Discursive institutionalism, Democratic governance, Sport policyAbstract
“Good governance” and “athlete rights” are two central ideas in today’s governance of sport. A multitude of actors from different horizontal and vertical governance levels shape the discourse surrounding these ideas. Following Vivien Schmidt’s seminal work on discursive institutionalism, we analyse the ideational power of the two ideas and the characteristics of their underlying discourses within the context of international sport governance. Our analysis highlights that several similarities between the ideas and their related discourses prevail. Yet, the two discourses exist, for most parts, separately with no systematic conceptual connection between the two ideas. Informed by an analysis of academic literature and policy documents within and beyond the area of sport governance, we argue that this is a conceptual shortcoming, which fails to capitalise on the power resting in each idea and, more importantly, in their combination. We suggest that a systematic merger of the two discourses in terms of the adoption of a rights-based approach to good governance may not only democratise the good governance discourse and better justify its widespread normative notion, but that it may also enhance the ideational power of athlete rights and, in practice, become a key to rights implementation for the benefit of athletes.
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