Ambitious endeavor succeeds most often but falls short in some significant respects

Harald Klaus Dolles
Faculty of Business Administration and Social Sciences, Molde University College

In a fast-changing global environment, the danger is high that books like the present reader by Chadwick, Widdop and Goldman dealing with international issues and global politics obsolesce at daunting speed. Contributing authors are almost doomed to start updating their chapters right after their submission preparing a continuation of their case stories. This poses a major challenge for editors to keep track and to oversee the developments. Just to pick one example within motorsports – one of the main subject fields within the reader, the Haas Formula One team terminated in March 2022 the contract with their Russian driver Nikita Mazepin and the contract of its title sponsor Uralkali, a Russian chemical producer that is part-owned by Uralchem company owned by Nikita Mazepin’s father Dmitry. A few days later, Nikita Mazepin and his father Dmitry was included on a list of individuals who face European Union sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, subject to restrictive measures. This included the freezing of funds and bans from entering the territory of EU Member States. It was argued that Dmitry Mazepin is a member of the closest circle of Vladimir Putin and refers to Uralchem, as the largest producer of ammonium nitrate as well as the second-largest producer of ammonia and nitrogen fertilisers in Russia. The EU document finds that Dmitry Mazepin is thus involved in economic sectors providing a substantial source of revenue to the Government of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for the annexation of Crimea and the destabilisation of Ukraine (Edmondson, 2022). The European Union also added Mazepin to its sanctions list due to his ‘association’ with his father.

To continue the story with the latest important developments, two years later in March 2024 (and thus after publication date of the reader and an important twist of the case), the European Court ruled that it could not justify the ex-Haas Formula One driver remaining on a list of individuals that have had sanctions imposed. In a statement issued by the General Court, it argued that putting Mazepin on the sanction list – simply because of the association with his father – was wrong. It said: “The General Court recalls that the ’association’ criterion, applied in respect of Mr Nikita Mazepin, covers persons who are, generally speaking, linked by common interests. That criterion implies the existence of a link going beyond a family relationship” (Noble, 2024). While the court ruling is most unlikely to change anything materially in his wish to get back to Formula One, it will certainly influence Mazepin’s appeal to a court in Canada as well, with the aim to be removed from sanctions listing in North America. This might open for further court disputes with the American-licensed Formula One team Haas, claiming for compensation.

The chapter also challenges the current system of classification, dividing sports into “male” and “female” categories, an issue that has lately dominated headlines and been the subject of much discussion on social media platforms during the Paris Olympics, targeting Algeria’s boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s boxer Lin Yu-ting.

Nevertheless, the collection of 32 chapters by Chadwick et al. is highly recommendable for its broad – but in conclusion, nearly overwhelming – selection of topical cases. Those are covering the politics behind the global spread of football (soccer) (section V) and motorsports (VI) in particular, by describing with passion for details in many chapters growth strategies of industry actors, including teams, clubs, leagues as well as governing bodies. Thematically, those sections’ chapters also cover questions of place identity and legacy commonly associated with the hosting of sporting-events and the goals by various actors behind, be it the state, regions, or governing bodies. This includes the political decision making behind drawn curtains. Increased commercialization in sports is also highlighted by addressing different ideologies and competing perspectives around how sports shall be organized (and consumed) – pure entertainment or focussed competition?

For example, with the implementation of new and additional formats for the race events by Liberty Media after the purchase of Formula One and the addition of promotion channels like the Netflix series on “Drive to Survive”, race teams and drivers serve not just on the racetrack, but also as performers in a show. Through this, perhaps we are now encountering the ‘Netflixisation’ (Pender, 2021) of Formula One seeing Liberty Media’s utilisation of the teams and drivers as performative labour. Just to continue the discussion that has been started in the reader: What are the consequences for the sport if the commercial investor and owner enhances its product offering provisions via a broader interpretation of the role and purpose of human resources within his reach? This includes for example – and just to extend the motorsports section – a ‘distracting’ pre-race ceremonial grid introduction first introduced ahead of the 2023 Miami Grand Prix, that none of the drivers liked. Mercedes driver George Russell labelled it “distracting”, saying: “I guess it’s the American way of doing things in sport. Personally, it’s probably not for me. I’m here to race. I’m not here for the show. I’m here to drive and I’m here to win. … It is distracting, because we’re on the grid for half an hour in all of our overalls in the sun” (Kew, 2023).

Section VII on “Peace, Diplomacy and Society” offers another perspective on the geopolitics of sports, highlighting its role as an enabler for peacebuilding processes and diplomacy. A separate chapter in this section does focus on the inclusion or dividing line of transgender and intersex athletes when it comes to sport federations rules and regulations. The chapter also challenges the current system of classification, dividing sports into “male” and “female” categories, an issue that has lately dominated headlines and been the subject of much discussion on social media platforms during the Paris Olympics, targeting Algeria’s boxer Imane Khelif and Taiwan’s boxer Lin Yu-ting. This gender-based eligibility controversy also highlights positions taken by different governing bodies of the sports, seeing the 2023 world boxing championships run by the International Boxing Association (IBA) from which Lin and Khelif were expelled, while the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is organising the sport at the Olympics differently because of financial, governance and ethical concerns at the IBA. IOC president Thomas Bach stated there have never been any doubts about Khelif and Yu-ting being women given their passports and said the Olympics would “not take part in a sometimes politically motivated, cultural war” (Pequeño, 2024).

A more regional perspective on sports is taken in the first four sections of the reader, going from “Russia and Ukraine”, to China, the Gulf region and South Asia, and to Africa. The selection of regions and associated number of chapters (7, 7, 5 and 2, respectively) might represent political development and states of crises, but it can be assumed that awarding the FIFA World Cup 2014 to Brazil and the 2016 Summer Olympic Games to Rio de Janeiro might also have been an outcome of sports diplomacy and not just a random placement. This assumption holds especially true since for the FIFA World Cup 2030, a centenary celebration ceremony is planned to be held in Uruguay’s capital, Montevideo, where the first ever FIFA World Cup took place in 1930. Also, three World Cup matches will be played in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay, before Morocco, Portugal and Spain will take over as tournament hosts. But unfortunately, the South American region is not specifically enclosed in the reader, similar to the North American region.

However, for the North American region, its actors and their perception on production and consumption patterns of sports are visible throughout several chapters, for example by exploring the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) global expansion towards emerging markets (chapter 21) or the case of Eilen Gu (chapter 10), the youngest Olympian champion in freestyle skiing. Her story also stands for the decisions athletes might make for career (and/or solely business) purposes, when as a San Francisco native she opted in a sudden step to compete for China instead of the United States at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Winter Games, a time of intense geopolitical tensions. Sports might be the only industry where we increasingly see a switch of nationality for the purpose of career advancement, although with an increasing number of cases, governing bodies have tightened up the requirements for changing nationality. But still, ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympic Summer Games the Executive Board of the IOC approved on the basis of Article 41 of the Olympic Charter the requests of seven athletes to change their sporting Olympic nationality in order to be eligible to take part in the Games (Pareja 2024), seeing switches from Russia to France or Serbia, from France to Tunisia, from Australia to Ireland, etc. Again, highly interesting cases that can be perceived as the starting grid for further research.

Given the range of chapters (and authors involved) the editors positively aim for a global perspective on the geopolitics of sports, and the coverage of various regions was undoubtedly pursued deliberately and ambitiously by the editors. And yet, the global sports framework as dominantly portrayed within the chapters of the reader is still entrenched in a Western, either European or North American, perspective. This might be based on the traditions where and how sports have developed over time, shaping and influencing also the underlying ethical perspectives on how sports shall be organized. This specifically includes more fundamental perceptions of actions by governing bodies within a framework of good corporate citizenship. But what constitutes ‘good’ corporate citizenship? Shall sports, its governance structures and actions by major actors follow an ethnocentric, polycentric or geocentric approach? There is a missed opportunity, at least within the two framing chapters by the editors, which undoubtedly emphasized the necessity of a new conception of sports, called the geopolitical economy of sports, but missing elaborations on theoretical foundations to go ahead in research. Further, when scanning the listing of references used throughout the regional chapters of the book a perspective outside-in on countries is predominant as the authors refer almost exclusively to sources published in the English language, missing out on explaining national perceptions inside-out from the local literature of countries itself or the local reception of the case. This would have freed the cases from its ‘Western’ bias.

In addition, and the chapter analysing the relation between governance and geopolitical change within the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile by applying the theoretical concept of organizational resilience might be a notable example, most cases remain largely descriptive. Regarding the power of case studies compared to generalization it can be argued that with the number and variety of cases at hand in the collection by Chadwick, Widdop and Goldman the ultimate goal of research would be to build or develop theories in an effort to reach a more fundamental outcome of an edited volume like the current one. By doing so the editors would have also overcome my starting concern of obsolescence. But still, the variety of chapters, topics and perspectives as collected by the editors on the geopolitics of sports and its embeddedness in local, national, regional and global contexts, might be a perfect starting point for further research on the topic around the globe, as the case stories continue to live on with new insights and factettes constantly emerging from the field. The topic of geopolitics in sports is a cornucopia for further research, and to highlight this is a well conceived and highly notable outcome of the book.

Copyright © Harald Klaus Dolles 2024

References

Edmondson, L. (2022). Haas terminates contracts with Russian F1 driver Nikita Mazepin and title sponsor Uralkali, ESPN F1 news, 2022.05.03, accessed 2022.03.09 at https://www.espn.com/f1/story/_/id/33419710/haas-terminates-contracts-russian-driver-nikita-mazepin-title-sponsor-uralkali

Pareja, M.M. (2024). Paris 2024: IOC approves change of nationality for seven athletes. Inside the Games, 2024.03.20, accessed 2024.08.01 at https://www.insidethegames.biz/articles/1144310/nationaly-change-approve-ioc-seven

Pender, K. (2021). Daniel Ricciardo the star in the Netflixisation of sport. The Guardian, 2021.09.24, accessed 2024.03.02 at https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/sep/25/daniel-ricciardo-the-star-in-the-netflix-isation-of-sport

Pequeño, A. (2024). What To Know About Olympics Gender Debate As Imane Khelif Wins Women’s Boxing Final. Forbes, 2024.08.09, accessed 2024.08.10 at https://www.forbes.com/sites/antoniopequenoiv/2024/08/09/what-to-know-about-olympics-gender-debate-as-imane-khelif-faces-off-in-womens-boxing-final/

Kew, M. (2023). F1 drivers hit out at “distracting” pre-race ceremony in Miami. Motorsport F1 News. Accessed 2024.03.15 at https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-drivers-hit-out-at-distracting-pre-race-ceremony-in-miami/10466837/

Noble, J. (2024). Mazepin has EU sanctions lifted after court ruling. Motorsport F1 News. Accessed 2024.05.15 at https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/mazepin-has-eu-sanctions-lifted-after-court-ruling/10589185/