AGGIS: Implementation and compliance of good governance in International Sport Federations
Part I: Implementation
Introduction
“Sports organizations and their members and events are often dependant on a mix of revenues including public and private subsidies. Therefore, it is in the clear interest of European tax payers, corporate companies and sports fans that sports organizations govern their affairs in an efficient, transparent, accountable and democratic manner.
(…)
To achieve better governance in sport, many sports organizations need to revise their internal and external mechanisms to cope with the on-going commercialization, professionalization and globalization of sport.”
(Source: Play the Game (2011), Grant application form 2011, Project proposal ‘Action for good governance in sport’).
According to this quote, a number of actors and agents have the goal or objective to improve the current governance in international sport federations (IF’s). One of the issues is: How can the desired situation (i.e. the adoption and compliance of good governance policy and code(s) in IF’s) be realized? Or, in other words, how can the process between the establishment of a goal/ objective and the final elaboration in practice be achieved?
This issue is about policy implementation (O’Toole, 2000). Implementing policy seems simple: One sets political-administrative ambitions, translates these to concrete policy goals and measures, organizes the necessary resources, chooses the right role as policy maker, mobilizes stakeholders and achieves implementation. These are the standard ingredients of an attractive implementation strategy. But, actual implementation processes are often more stubborn.
This contribution focuses on existing implementation theory, in order to draw a picture of the unruly practice in general and that of IF’s in particular. We will discuss possible implementation and control strategies for adoption of good governance in the specific contexts of IF’s.
This report was created as a part of the project 'Action for Good Governance in International Sports Organisations (AGGIS)', which was initiated by Play the Game/the Danish Institute for Sports Studies and awarded funding from the European Commission to contribute to the Commission’s so-called ‘Preparatory Actions’ initiative which will pave the way for the EU’s future strategies in the field of sport. Read more about AGGIS here