scholarly journals The Commonwealth Games as an Example of Bringing States Closer Through Sport

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michał Marcin Kobierecki

Abstract The aim of the article is to investigate the issue of positive sports diplomacy directed at bringing countries closer and deepening cooperation between them. Generally, sports diplomacy is a broader term and may include various ways of utilizing sport, both negative and positive, even for the sake of nation-branding. Positive sports diplomacy most commonly refers to bringing hostile states closer together, but it may also be used to deepen political alliances or foster friendship and cooperation between states that are not mutually hostile. The research focuses on the latter form of positive sports diplomacy. The investigation is a case study concerning the Commonwealth Games, a sports event that is held once every four years and gathers countries and territories that used to belong to the former British Empire. The research therefore aims to determine whether this event, the second largest multisport event in the world, is significant from political and diplomatic perspectives. A second research question concerns whether the Commonwealth Games should be seen as an attempt by Great Britain to maintain influence in its former colonies. The research attempts to test the hypothesis that the Commonwealth Games are an important contributor to sustaining ties between states of the former British Empire.

Author(s):  
Albert Saló ◽  
Laia López

Research Question: This analysis arises from the decision of the current local council of Barcelona regarding the postponement of the sporting mega-event ‘World Roller Games’, due to a lack of a social and sportive implication in this event. This research tries to shed some light on the matter and give evidence to the local council to become the world capital of skating. The research question is to analyse whether non-economic impacts could be relevant enough to organise a mega-event.Research Methods: The methodology is based on the perception and experience of spectators and participants on four main impacts (social, economic, sports city image and sports practice) using a survey from a National Roller Skating Championship in Spain, considering that this profile of respondents have a better knowledge of the current situation of this sport.Results and Findings: There are positive expected future consequences of this mega-event to be held in Barcelona in social and sportive terms. We can also conclude that the local council must still introduce some social and sportive policies in the city in order to improve the chances of success in social, sports practice and sportive brand image development.Implications: It is demonstrated that a mega-event should not be seen purely from a perspective of business generation, especially with minority sports like roller skating. There is a clear opportunity to develop social and sportive practice initiatives that can push social cohesion throughout the city thanks to a mega-event such as this one.


2019 ◽  
pp. 129-145
Author(s):  
O. Zernetska

In the article, it is stated that Great Britain had been the biggest empire in the world in the course of many centuries. Due to synchronic and diachronic approaches it was detected time simultaneousness of the British Empire’s development in the different parts of the world. Different forms of its ruling (colonies, dominions, other territories under her auspice) manifested this phenomenon.The British Empire went through evolution from the First British Empire which was developed on the count mostly of the trade of slaves and slavery as a whole to the Second British Empire when itcolonized one of the biggest states of the world India and some other countries of the East; to the Third British Empire where it colonized countries practically on all the continents of the world. TheForth British Empire signifies the stage of its decomposition and almost total down fall in the second half of the 20th century. It is shown how the national liberation moments starting in India and endingin Africa undermined the British Empire’s power, which couldn’t control the territories, no more. The foundation of the independent nation state of Great Britain free of colonies did not lead to lossof the imperial spirit of its establishment, which is manifested in its practical deeds – Organization of the British Commonwealth of Nations, which later on was called the Commonwealth, Brexit and so on.The conclusions are drawn that Great Britain makes certain efforts to become a global state again.


2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 274-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Woodward

Sport is widely acknowledged as an important contributor to the United Kingdom’s soft power resources. This article aims to broaden and deepen our understanding of sport and soft power in the United Kingdom through a case study of British expeditions to, and the eventual conquest of, Mount Everest. Based on original archival research, the article demonstrates that British state institutions intervened systematically and strategically to expedite, and massage the story of, the ascent of Everest to burnish British prestige and present a favourable image to the world. In doing so, the article provides evidence that sport has been intrinsic to the United Kingdom’s diplomatic repertoire and soft power assets for considerably longer than existing accounts discern. Moreover, the Everest case offers important cues for contemporary policymakers. In particular, it demonstrates the need for the United Kingdom to project a clear, credible and consistent image if it is to profit from its soft power resources.


1878 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 362-383
Author(s):  
Sydney Robjohns

In recent lectures delivered at Birmingham Mr. Froude referred to the strained relations existing between England and the colonies, and indicated the temporary nature of the present arrangement. The question, in his opinion, is one which if left to the course of events will settleitself by the colonies drifting further away; but that if this people deem the continued union of the empire worth struggling for, and prepare themselves to encounter and overcome difficulties, then might accrue advantage to Great Britain and benefit to all Englishspeaking people. To quote Doctor Parker Peps, the country ”must be called upon to make a vigorous effort in this instance; but if our interesting friend should not be able to make that effort successfully, then a crisis must arise.” But Mr. Froude apparently falls into a similar error to Sir Julius Vogel, who imports Will into a subject which is one of natural forces only and purely. An important section of the Liberal party cannot “design or favour ” the break-up of the empire, at their will; neither can Mr. Froude nor Mr. Forster, whatever their wishes may be, suggest a practical basis of permament legislative union. Lord Blachford, Mr. Goldwin Smith, and others may indicates the tendency of natural forces, may mark on a chart the course of the Gulf Stream; but who can resist those forces? If one dare to predict at all, the growth of nationality in our colonies and the capacity of the Anglo-Saxon race point to another and a more beneficent result than even the federation of the British Empire, namely, the union consequent upon a common interest, opinion, language, and sympathy, of the English-speaking people throughout the world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-230
Author(s):  
Toijam Sarika Devi ◽  
Bijoylaxmi Sarmah ◽  
K. N. Dewangan ◽  
Neeraj Kumar Phookan

Naara-Aaba is an indigenous wine innovated by a woman who could predict a beautiful end to her vision of brewing wine from the sacred but exotic fruit kiwi. The brand was launched in 2017 at Hong village of Ziro, Arunachal Pradesh by Tage Rita Takhe; an engineer turned entrepreneur through her venture M/s Lambu Subu Food & Beverages. The brand was named after her late father-in-law lovingly known as ‘Naara’ and ‘Aaba’ meaning father. The motto of the company is to fight a social problem that wreaks havoc across the region, namely the suicides of thousands of farmers who cannot pay back their debt due to drought, poor harvest, and sometimes exacerbated by climate. Rita started her winery facing these hurdles and a field abundant in kiwi fruits. Despite facing many challenges such as lack of efficient production infrastructure, market connectivity, and minimum support from the government machinery, she has created a niche market in the wine industry. This case aims to establish the applicability of the Blue Ocean strategy by applying the tools to create an uncontested market space for Naara-Aaba, the first organic kiwi wine from the north-eastern states of India and second in the world after New Zealand. Research question: How to apply Blue Ocean strategy for the brand Naara-Aaba so that the competition becomes irrelevant? Theory: Blue Ocean theory Type of the case: Applied problem solving Basis of the case: Phenomenon-creating uncontested space in the market Protagonist: Present Findings: The findings revealed that implementing a Blue Ocean strategy will open up new uncontested market spaces for the brand to grow profitably. This case study shows how to apply Blue Ocean strategy for a wine brand. Discussion: Blue Ocean strategy advocates that by eliminating unnecessary attributes, reducing all features that pushes up the cost, raising utility, and creating higher value, a brand can redefine its market where competition is non-existent.


2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 419-448
Author(s):  
Irvin Studin

What does the Canadian Constitution have to say (or not say) about Canada's recent war in Afghanistan? The question seems intellectually natural, but has seldom been asked – not least because in Canada, the fields of constitutional law and foreign affairs, in both scholarship and praxis, are often near-perfect strangers. The seldom examined second recital of the preamble to the Constitution Act, 1867 (once the British North America Act,1867, and hereafter the ‘1867 Act'), reads that the “Union would conduce to the Welfare of the Provinces and promote the Interests of the British Empire.” The only provision of the 1867 Act that explicitly references foreign affairs is section 132, although it speaks to the implementation by Canada (legislative and executive branches) ofimperialor British Empire treaty obligations. One can therefore propose with reasonable certainty that both the character and paucity of explicit language onstrategyin the text of the founding legal document of the modern Canadian state betray a fundamental reality: that Canada,constitutionally speaking, was never intended or expected to be a power player of any note in the world, but, rather, was constituted as a strategic appendage orauxiliary kingdomof the British Empire— its instruments and interests subsumed to the strategic designs and direction of Westminster.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 54-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sourit Bhattacharya

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the colonies controlled by the British, the Dutch, and other European countries witnessed a number of devastating famines. These famines did not solely arise for the ‘natural’ reasons of the shortage of rainfall or food availability problems, but were aggravated by the systemic imperialist exploitation of the world by these major European powers. Taking as its case study the two great famines in Ireland and India – the 1845–52 Irish Famine and the 1943–44 Bengal Famine – the essay offers a reading of Liam O'Flaherty's Famine (1937) and Bhabani Bhattacharya's So Many Hungers! (1947). It shows that these works – apart from registering the devastating impact of the famines on the colonial population – have pointed through their powerful uses of content, form, and style to the world-historical reasons of long-term agrarian crisis, political instability, tyranny of the landlord classes, inefficiency of the British Empire, and others as responsible for the famines.


1939 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elton Atwater

At a time when the subject of arms embargoes and arms export control is arousing considerable interest both at home and abroad, it is not untimely to examine the system of control which has developed in one of the chief arms producing and exporting countries of the world—Great Britain. Much attention has been devoted to the alleged evils of the international traffic in arms, and to the desirability of an effective government control over all armaments exports. Little consideration, on the other hand, has been given by writers to the question of how such control should be administered by a government, and what measures are actually involved. Taking the experience of Great Britain as a case study, the writer proposes in the following pages to trace the development of arms export control in that country, to examine the ways in which it has been administered, and to point out some of the difficulties which have been encountered. The present article may be looked upon, therefore, as a case study in the broader subject of national controls over the export of war materials.


Itinerario ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 365-390
Author(s):  
Lachy Paterson

AbstractOver sixteen months in 1857 and 1858, Walter Buller produced a weekly newspaper for Māori of the Wellington region in their own language. Although he was the son of a Wesleyan missionary and an official interpreter, the niupepa was neither a church nor a government publication, although it promoted discourses favoured by both. A number of niupepa had preceded Buller's Te Karere o Poneke, the first appearing in 1842, but his paper was distinctive in the sizable platform he provided for correspondence. Over half of the items printed comprised letters from Māori, many of them commenting on, and occasionally critiquing the colonial milieu.The concept of “public sphere” is heavily theorized, often postulated in acultural terms (although suspiciously European in form) and it is debatable if Te Karere o Poneke's readership and their engagement with the textual discourse meet the theory's required criteria of constituting a public sphere. New Zealand was annexed to the British Empire in 1840, meaning that by 1857 colonization was still a relatively new phenomenon, but with substantial immigration and a developing infrastructure, change was both extensive and dynamic. According to the theory, it may be difficult to apply the concept of “public sphere” to Māori anytime during the changing contexts of nineteenth-century colonialism, and indeed other colonised cultures for whom the advent of literacy, Christianity, market economy and colonial administration had been sudden and unexpected. Of course this does not mean that Māori lacked a voice, at times critical. Using Te Karere o Poneke as a case study, this essay argues that Wellington Māori of 1857 do not readily fit the Western model of the “public sphere”, but they nevertheless utilized the discursive spaces available to them to discuss and evaluate the world they now encountered.


2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-125
Author(s):  
Jackie MacDonald ◽  
M. Ann Hall

Certainly for me (Jackie MacDonald), it was far and away the biggest event of any sort that I had been involved in until then. The trip from Toronto was the farthest I had ever travelled: Vancouver was beautiful with the mountains in the background; the local population was bursting with pride and enthusiasm for the Games; I was awed by the sight of so many famous athletes and excited by the opportunity to meet participants from all over the world. There were highs and lows of course: on the final day the “Miracle Mile” lived up to all the tremendous hype, but the horrifying spectacle of marathoner Jim Peters staggering, collapsing, then crawling on the track, and unable to finish was a tragic sight. For me personally, winning the silver medal in the women’s shot put with a personal best was the high point, while being scratched from the discus competition was the low point. I was reminded of how thrilling it was for me to be on the Canadian team in 1954 when my husband, our two sons and I went to Victoria for the 1994 Commonwealth Games. Watching the track and field events I was very touched when my older son said: “Looking at these athletes, I can picture you down there competing forty years ago.”


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