Call for articles: Sport and diplomacy

From sports boycotts to juggling games to ease tensions between countries, sport has often been used to achieve diplomatic goals. sportanddev invites anyone with an interest in the subject to submit an article.

In 2011, calling for increased inclusion of sport in development and peacebuilding, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said: “Sport has become a world language, a common denominator that breaks down all the walls, all the barriers.”

The idea of sport as a language is commonly used by sport and development practitioners and is a useful metaphor for highlighting sport’s potential on a diplomatic level. While approaches, coaching styles and sporting cultures may differ from place to place, the meaning of a goal, a penalty or a red card is the same in locations as diverse as New York, Tehran, Buenos Aires and Tokyo.

Sport has been used to help meet a number of foreign policy objectives, opening doors to dialogue between nations, promoting regime change and enabling a country to position itself on the world stage.

The international community used sport boycotts to help end apartheid in South Africa and the country later used hosting the rugby (1995), cricket (2003) and football (2010) world cups to contribute towards its continuing rehabilitation at home and promote the image of a changing and vibrant nation abroad.

In recent years, the increased presence of emerging economies in the bidding processes of major tournaments has led to countries such as Qatar, Russia and Brazil being selected to host FIFA World Cups and Olympic Games. Major events enable such countries to facilitate “nation branding” – an effort to positively shape international perceptions – and to announce that they have “arrived” on the international stage.

From Jesse Owens’ success at the 1936 Berlin Olympics and Olympic water polo bringing the world’s attention to the 1956 Hungarian Revolution to the US Department of State’s support for sport-based initiatives to strengthen relations with other countries and juggling games between Indian and Pakistani diplomats, history has provided numerous examples of sport setting the stage for diplomacy, famous and less well known, strategic and accidental. The concept of sport as a diplomatic tool can also be broadened to include, for example, promoting improved relations between cultures or communities. sportanddev invites all those with experience or an opinion on the topic to submit an article.

Submit an article
If you would like to write on this topic, please contact [email protected] with your idea and we will discuss next steps. We request that articles are submitted by 18:00 (CET) 12 February 2015. Articles should not exceed 400 words and should be written with sportanddev’s How to Write for News and Views guide in mind.

Writing for sportanddev allows you to highlight your work in S&D, improve your writing skills and increase your visibility within the sport and development community. All those interested are welcome to submit articles at any time; just set up a Team Player profile and post your article, event or digital media.