Tag: Arnout Geeraert

The contributions in Good Governance in Sport: Critical Reflections, edited by Arnout Geeraert & Frank von Eekeren (Routledge) explore the different practical strategies that have been employed to achieve the implementation of good governance principles. In his review, H. Thomas R. Persson points out the link between the book and Play the Game, the Danish initiative promoting democracy, transparency, and freedom of expression in world sport, and concludes that the book is a welcome contribution to the good governance debate.

Routledge Handbook of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, edited by Dikaia Chatziefstathiou, Borja García & Benoit Séguin (Routledge) presents new research and broad surveys exploring pressing debates, challenges and possible solutions surrounding the modern Olympic and Paralympic Games, across diverse socioeconomic and political contexts. Our reviewer Björn Sandahl contends that the handbook serves as a rich introduction to its field of study and thus should be of great interest to students and the interested general public.

Sport and Secessionism, edited by Mariann Vaczi and Alan Bairner (Routledge), examines how sporting cultures reflect, inform and sometimes frustrate secessionist movements around the world by investigating a wide range of cases. Our reviewer is Norwegian historian Matti Goksøyr, and his insightful presentation and critical assessment of the collection reveals new takes, new examples and hence new perspectives and more nuances to the ways sport can operate and be applied in secessionist contexts.

Ett regeringsuppdrag till Centrum för idrottsforskning att göra en analys av hur idrotten skulle kunna arbeta för att förbättra styrning, öppenhet och demokratiska funktioner gav upphov till antologin Idrottens riskzoner: Om vägar till trygg och trovärdig idrott, sammanställd av Johan R. Norberg, Christine Dartsch Nilsson & Johan Faskunger (CIF). Kolbjørn Rafoss bjuder på en grundlig recension av bokens alla bidrag, som sammantaget ger en fördjupad bild av problem och möjliga lösningar.

“I read this volume as one of many signs that sport can no longer escape issues of environmental impact, sustainability and climate change.” The volume in question is Routledge Handbook of Sport and the Environment edited by Brian P. McCullough and Timothy B. Kellison (Routledge), and the quote is from Daniel Svensson’s review in which he is mainly positive, although he also points to some perspectives that he finds missing in the book.

The European Sport Management Quarterly (ESMQ) publishes articles that contribute to our understanding of how sport organizations are structured, managed and operated. The Journal sets out to enhance our understanding of the role of sport management and sport bodies in social life and the way social, political and economic forces and practices affect these organizations.

Pam Sailors finds a useful metaphor in the Swiss army knife when reviewing Ethics and Governance in Sport: The future of sport imagined, edited by Yves Vanden Auweele, Elaine Cook & Jim Parry (Routledge) – both are brilliantly designed, with many small and useful implements/chapters, but one requires sturdier stuff in order to construct big houses or conceive and conduct in-depth studies of sports.

A welcome attempt at creating a European textbook in sport management, writes Hans Lundberg in his review of When Sport Meets Business: Capabilities, Challenges, Critiques, edited by Ulrik Wagner, Rasmus K. Storm & Klaus Nielsen (Sage Publications). Still, our esteemed reviewer tempers his approbation with specific advice for future improvement.

In this original review for idrottsforum.org, Jay Coakley takes on two introductory textbooks in the sociology of sport, Sport Sociology by Peter Craig and Sport and Society, edited by Barrie Houlihan & Dominic Malcolm (both Sage Publications). His critical analysis from the point of view of the academic teacher leads him to a well-argued conclusions that will be rewarding reading for teachers as well as for the respective author/editors.

The Bosman judgment is considered from a number of angles in the anthology The Legacy of Bosman: Revisiting the Relationship between EU Law and Sport edited by Antoine Duval & Ben Van Rompuy (TMC Asser Press). Our reviewer Mikael Hansson finds valuable contributions as well as less so, and would perhaps have liked a slightly counterfactual approach as well.