Introduction: Sport in under-resourced, underdeveloped, and conflict regions: an introduction

More than 600 Sport for Development and Peace (SDP) programmes are currently registered on the International Platform on Sport and Development and over the past two decades, scholars and practitioners have taken a keen interest in understanding this field. A new journal focused solely on SDP has even been established (Journal of Sport for Development). These scholarly efforts have largely focused on and debated the merits of sport as a tool for development, diplomacy, empowerment and peacebuilding particularly in under-resourced, underdeveloped and conflict-affected regions. In turn, these research experiences have led people – individually and as an editorial team – to reflect upon the importance and challenges of approaching and analysing SDP using qualitative research methods. In particular, such challenges stem from the desire to conduct research that is both rigorous and ethical, while doing so in ways that acknowledge the diversity of participants and stakeholders as well as the unequal relations of power that structure the field.