TY - JOUR
T1 - A rationalist perspective on the autonomy of international sport governing bodies
T2 - towards a pragmatic autonomy in the steering of sports
AU - Geeraert, Arnout
AU - Mrkonjic, Michaël
AU - Chappelet, Jean Loup
PY - 2015/1/1
Y1 - 2015/1/1
N2 - International sport governing bodies (ISGBs) are built on the foundations of freedom of association and traditionally enjoy a large degree of autonomy in their decision-making. Their autonomy is increasingly confined, however, and their hierarchical self-governance is giving way to a more networked governance, in which different stakeholders exert power in different ways and in different contexts in a complex web of interrelationships. Taking a rationalist perspective on the autonomy of ISGBs, this article demonstrates that ISGBs are deploying strategies to safeguard their waning governing monopoly over international sport. Opting for an inductive approach, the authors present four possible conceptualizations of autonomy as applied to ISGBs, namely political autonomy, legal autonomy, financial autonomy and pyramidal autonomy. For each dimension, they describe the different strategies ISGBs wield in order to safeguard different dimensions of their autonomy. This article uses governance theories to hypothesize that the autonomy of ISGBs can be understood as ‘pragmatic autonomy’ since ISGBs only cede certain aspects of their autonomy under particular circumstances and when being subject to specific threats. Acting in a rationalist manner, they are able to keep control over governance developments in sport by using indirect and more subtle forms of governance.
AB - International sport governing bodies (ISGBs) are built on the foundations of freedom of association and traditionally enjoy a large degree of autonomy in their decision-making. Their autonomy is increasingly confined, however, and their hierarchical self-governance is giving way to a more networked governance, in which different stakeholders exert power in different ways and in different contexts in a complex web of interrelationships. Taking a rationalist perspective on the autonomy of ISGBs, this article demonstrates that ISGBs are deploying strategies to safeguard their waning governing monopoly over international sport. Opting for an inductive approach, the authors present four possible conceptualizations of autonomy as applied to ISGBs, namely political autonomy, legal autonomy, financial autonomy and pyramidal autonomy. For each dimension, they describe the different strategies ISGBs wield in order to safeguard different dimensions of their autonomy. This article uses governance theories to hypothesize that the autonomy of ISGBs can be understood as ‘pragmatic autonomy’ since ISGBs only cede certain aspects of their autonomy under particular circumstances and when being subject to specific threats. Acting in a rationalist manner, they are able to keep control over governance developments in sport by using indirect and more subtle forms of governance.
KW - autonomy
KW - international sport governing bodies
KW - sport governance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84943456351&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/19406940.2014.925953
DO - 10.1080/19406940.2014.925953
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84943456351
SN - 1940-6940
VL - 7
SP - 473
EP - 488
JO - International Journal of Sport Policy
JF - International Journal of Sport Policy
IS - 4
ER -