Understanding the International Olympic Committee as a global governance actor

Before critiquing the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Games, this chapter will establish the theoretical framework of this research: global governance, and the legitimacy of global governance actors. To unpack the framework, I pose three research questions. First, how do the IOC and the Olympic Games fit into the broader discussion on global governance? Second, what role does legitimacy play for global governance actors, and what interest might the IOC in particular have in legitimacy? Third, how might the legitimacy be conceptualised as a framework for measurement? This chapter contains three sections. Section 1 outlines the concept of global governance, and discusses the IOC’s role as a global governance actor. Section 2 examines the concept of legitimacy. It defines legitimacy and outlines a framework with which to understand and evaluate legitimacy. This section also undertakes an initial look at the IOC’s legitimacy, and questions whether the IOC is facing a crisis of legitimacy at this point in time. Section 3 concludes the chapter.