Alan Bairner

Sport and politics have become inseparably entwined. From the volatile nationalism of international soccer to human rights controversies surrounding the Beijing Olympics, sport is both an important factor in political discourse and shaped by the wider political environment. In this ground-breaking and thought provoking book, Alan Bairner offers a comprehensive and critical survey of the relationship between sport and politics and argues that, by understanding this relationship, we can develop a much more nuanced understanding of both sport and politics as aspects of culture. The book begins with three main propositions - that politicians use sport, that sport reflects political conditions and that sport itself contributes to political culture for good or for ill. Against this background, the book explores the key points of interaction between the two, including national and international sport policy, the political economy of sport, nationalism in sport, sport in political thought, globalization, the politics of sporting celebrity, and the neighbouring academic communities of sport and political science. With fascinating case studies woven throughout, this book is the perfect introduction to an important contemporary topic for all students of sport, politics and society.

Sport and politics have become inseparably entwined. From the volatile nationalism of international soccer to human rights controversies surrounding the Beijing Olympics, sport is both an important factor in political discourse and shaped by the wider political environment. In this ground-breaking and thought provoking book, Alan Bairner offers a comprehensive and critical survey of the relationship between sport and politics and argues that, by understanding this relationship, we can develop a much more nuanced understanding of both sport and politics as aspects of culture. The book begins with three main propositions - that politicians use sport, that sport reflects political conditions and that sport itself contributes to political culture for good or for ill. Against this background, the book explores the key points of interaction between the two, including national and international sport policy, the political economy of sport, nationalism in sport, sport in political thought, globalization, the politics of sporting celebrity, and the neighbouring academic communities of sport and political science. With fascinating case studies woven throughout, this book is the perfect introduction to an important contemporary topic for all students of sport, politics and society.

This book brings together the work of a numbers of scholars who have an interest in the historical, social and political significance of sport in Ireland. It contributes not only to wider debates about Irish history, society and politics and but also to the steadily growing body of work devoted to understanding the role of sport in the shaping of modern societies. In terms of history, the book takes the reader from the late nineteenth century and the origins of modern sport, through the formation of the Irish Free State to the divisions that have so adversely affected Northern Ireland since the late 1960s. The book also allows readers to consider the relationship between sport, national identities and gender in a contemporary Irish context together with the role that sport can play in terms of conflict and conflict resolution.

Explores the relationship between sport and national identities within the context of globalization in the modern era. Sport and nationalism are arguably two of the most emotional issues in the modern world. Both inspire intense devotion and frequently lead to violence. In this book, Alan Bairner discusses the relationship between sport and national identities in Europe and North America-specifically Ireland, Scotland, Sweden, the United States, and Canada-within the context of a broader theoretical debate about the impact of globalization in the modern era. Through a unique comparative perspective, the author sheds new light on the ways sport impacts the construction and reproduction of national identities. Ultimately, the work considers the role of sport in allowing nations and nationalists to resist, or at least come to terms with, powerful globalizing pressures.

In Northern Ireland every significant aspect of life is bound up with the politics of division. Sport is no exception. Politics - the politics of partition - is integral to the rivalry between clubs, and indeed to the very choice of games to be played and watched. After the church, the most important sources of communal division are education, physical location and sports preference. While the importance of education and community segmentation has been recognized, the complex role which sport plays in civil and political relations in the province has been neglected. By its very nature sport provides a focus for sectarian identification and a forum for confrontation which can exacerbate conflict. State-sponsored attempts to use sport and recreation to diffuse the volatile political situation seriously under-estimate the important significance of these areas of popular culture in defining the boundaries between two warring factions. This book, the first examination of the political nature of sport and leisure in Northern Ireland, is the product of a number of years of experience and research into sport, leisure and socio-political relations in the province. It fulfils three overlapping functions: it's a book about the political sociology of sport in Northern Ireland; it's an addition to the literature of political sociology of Northern Ireland in general; finally it's an important contribution to the growing body of knowledge about sport and politics in general. The study is centred on an explanation of the relationship between the state of Northern Ireland and the forces which determine the shape and substance of its distinctive civil societies: sectarianism, ethnicity, nationalism and social class.