ABSTRACT
Sport has a reputation for being the stepchild of politics. Leaders and decision-makers have traditionally tended to neglect sport in their political agendas, while prioritising other economic, social and cultural goals. Apart from few exceptions sport has mostly been of governmental interest in the context of hosting events, winning medals and building national identities. In recent years governmental actors have however come to realise that sport and physical activity carry a large potential. The political talk has changed correspondingly, more and more taking into consideration the crosscutting character of sport and physical activity. Politicians now frequently refer to societal benefits related to sport such as health enhancement, mental well-being, economic and social development as well as inclusion and integration. It is nonetheless questionable as to how far the increased mentioning of such assumed benefits can be considered a serious attempt to address and assess sport and physical activity comprehensively in their specificity as multi-layered themes that encompass various actors and policy areas. The aim of this chapter is to explore how the European Union and the United Nations have contributed to advocating holistic policies and thereby to ‘walking the talk’. This includes an analysis of objectives, recent policy initiatives and developments. It is argued that supra-and intergovernmental initiatives offer potential for instigating comprehensive sport policy approaches which relate to and are based on a (sport) governance system including all relevant stakeholders. The chapter comprises a section portraying the relationship between sport and politics from a theoretical perspective including a description of how sport can be located within concepts concerned with international relations, European integration, regionalisation and governance. It continues with a section offering an overview of the development of the sport policy of the European Union including its legal framework, the institutional structure and in particular current themes and priorities. This is
followed by an analysis of sport policy as developed within the United Nations system, including by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the UN Office on Sport for Development and Peace (UNOSDP) and the activities of the Human Rights Council (HRC) related to sport. Finally, the chapter ends with conclusions regarding the approaches of both the European Union and the United Nations and their potential implications for the evolution of sport policies in the future.
