Good governance literature

Here you can find selected links to literature and key documents in the field of good governance in international sports organisations.

You can also find the documents and reports produced by the AGGIS group as a part of its research.

AGGIS documents and reports
Documents and reports produced by the AGGIS project group and partners.

This paper by Arnout Geeraert seeks to provide a concise overview of the application of EU law on sporting rules as it delineates the boundaries of the autonomy of sport with regard to EU law. It also provides an overview of the different methods of enforcement of EU law on sports bodies and the legal and political limitations thereof.

In this paper, Aline Bos, Frank van Eekeren and Barrie Houlihan address the issues of implementation and compliance of good governance in international sports federations.

In this paper, Aline Bos and Frank van Eekeren address the concept of transparency, by looking at its definition, its different approaches and ways of operationalising it.

One of the central elements of good governance is the existence of effective accountability processes. Yet, as with so many aspects of good governance, the concept is hard to define and even harder to operationalise. In this paper, Barrie Houlihan discusses the concept of accountability.

It is essential to ask the basic questions why, what and how – and by whom – when you set out to monitor an organisation's governance practices. Simona Kustec Lipicer, Damjan Lajh and Ivana Grgić from the Centre for Political Sciences Research at the University of Ljubljana address these fundamental questions in their report to AGGIS.

In this paper, professor Barrie Houlihan raises a number of fundamental questions about the application of stakeholder theory in the world of international sports organisations. Can stakeholders be properly defined, and are they necessarily supporters of good governance?

Three lists presenting Good Governance principles from three different actors; international governmental and non-governmental organisations, scholars and the sports organisations. The lists describe when specific Good Governance principles have been published, sum up the key concepts and present the most important Good Governance principles.

Social dialogue in professional football is essentially about the credibility of the sports stakeholders and their capacity to self-regulate their activities in the name of the autonomy that they claim, argue the authors Michele Colucci  and Arnout Geeraert in this report.

The authors of this article, Arnout Geeraert, Jeroen Scheerder and Hans Bruyninckx, aim at introducing a new approach in the academic debate on governance failures in professional football.

During the EASM 2012 conference, AGGIS held a workshop and members of the working group gave presentations on different good governance themes.

This paper by Simona Kustec Lipicer discusses the implementation dilemmas of Slovenian sport policy though time.

In this paper, Jean‐Loup Chappelet and Michaël Mrkonjic examines the theme of "good" governance and present an overview of existing and published governance principles in sport.

External good governance reports
Selected reports from external sources on good governance in international sports organisations focusing on concrete actions for improvement. 

The INGO Accountability Charter is an initiative of International NGOs to demonstrate their commitment to accountability and transparency.

The Charter text codifies practices for INGOs in the areas of respect for universal principles, independence, responsible advocacy, effective programmes, non-discrimination, transparency, good governance, ethical fundraising, and professional management.

Master's thesis by Alex Phillips. At the moment the Association of European Team Sports (ETS) does not have any code or criteria for measuring good governance. The thesis discusses how a Good Governance Code for the ETS' might look. 

Friday March 30, 2012, the Independent Governance Committee (IGC) presented its first report to the Executive Committee of FIFA. The IGC has been overseeing FIFA`s reform process since its constitution in December 2011.

The report by Mark Pieth, Chairman of FIFA's Independent Governance Committee, outlining the next steps in reforming world football’s governing body. Presented on 30 November 2011.

Transparency International's report on FIFA, calling for the world football's governing body to carry out comprehensive governance reforms overseen by a group composed of representatives from outside FIFA and inside football in a way that ensures its independence. 

A review of the ICC by Lord Woolf of Barnes and PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report presents 65 recommendations, including a wide range of changes to the structure of the board, the administration and structure of cricket, the ethical issues of governing and the funding schemes.

Report by a committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), presenting its guidelines for good governance and ethics in sport. 

Report by the Swiss branch of Transparency International called 'Transparency in Organised Sport', focusing on how increased transparency in sports organisations can help minimise the risks of criminal penalties.

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