ABSTRACT
In this final chapter the case studies outlined in Chapters 6 and 7 will be examined, first, in terms of the similarities and differences in the ‘life cycle’ of the issues, and second, in terms of what they reveal about the existence of a policy community for sport. The case studies provide contrasting perspectives on the policy process. Anti-doping policy has a high international profile whereas school sport and PE is largely a national or local policy issue; anti-doping policy involves a broad range of central and international governmental and non-governmental organisations by comparison with the narrower range of national and local organisations concerned with sport and PE; debate on doping is punctuated by scandal and crisis whereas the debate on school sport and PE is conducted at a lower level of intensity and with less media interest. As such, the two issues allow an element of triangulation in consideration of the hypotheses identified in the opening chapter. The first hypothesis was a simple assertion of an expectation of similarity of policy response to the two issues in the five countries studied. It was further suggested that the source of policy similarity would lie in the characteristics intrinsic to the issue or problem rather than being a consequence of either the particularities of the countries or the result of policy diffusion. The second hypothesis suggested that a policy community was either in operation or emerging. It was also suggested that a series of policy networks were also in operation or emerging to deal with the two issues examined and by implication a wider range of sports-related policy issues.
