Sport, Policy and Politics

In recent years, across a broad range of countries, sport has been transformed from an essentially private, politically marginal activity to an important concern of government. This volume is a genuinely comparative analysis of sport policy making, and the motives for investment by governments in five countries -- Australia, Canada, Ireland, the United Kingdom and North America. Bruce Houlihan analyzes to what extent different countries learn from each other when determining domestic policy, and just how 'internationalized' the process of policy-making is becoming. Discussing such timely and complex issues as drug testing and abuse and the division of responsibility between different levels of government, Houlihan examines the probability that the future of sport will be determined by domestic governing bodies, and dependent upon their allocation of resources. Written in a clear and accessible style, this volume will be of great value to those studying sport, politics, policy-making, or leisure management.