The global security field of sports and how the World Health Organization shapes mega-events in a (post-)pandemic world

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Ludvigsen, J (2025) The global security field of sports and how the World Health Organization shapes mega-events in a (post-)pandemic world. Journal of Sport and Social Issues. pp. 1-20. ISSN 0193-7235

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Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1177/01937235251328914

Abstract

In a (post-)pandemic age, it is important to explore which actors and institutions that shape global sport. Sport can be viewed as made up by interrelationships between different social actors, including international organizations. By utilizing existing theoretical insights related to the notion of social fields, this article explores how what is approached as a “global security field of sport” was shaped by the World Health Organization (WHO) during the staging of sport mega-events during the pandemic time, where public health, security, and safety concerns were unprecedented. Adopting a digital qualitative research approach, this article frame analyses discourses in official communications and media interview statements to examine how the WHO is situated within global sport. It is argued that the WHO—following Covid-19—has been catapulted into football's security-related discourses and consolidated its power in the “global security field of sport.” More broadly, this is significant because it reflects wider trends and power struggles that emerge when international organizations become entangled in sport.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	1504 Commercial Services; 1608 Sociology; Sport, Leisure & Tourism
Subjects:	A General Works > AZ History of Scholarship The Humanities A General Works > AZ History of Scholarship The Humanities H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports
Divisions:	Humanities and Social Science
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Date of acceptance:	30 January 2025
Date of first compliant Open Access:	25 March 2025
Date Deposited:	25 Mar 2025 12:19
Last Modified:	25 Mar 2025 12:19
DOI or ID number:	10.1177/01937235251328914
URI:	https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/25991

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