Introduction: Sports, Politics and Boundaries: Playing the Inclusion/Exclusion Games

Abstract

This book offers a variety of views on a relatively new trend in the global industry of sports mega events—the growing interest, supported by the corresponding material resources, of non-Western countries to host them. A number of Western cities (such as Toronto, Hamburg, Munich, Stockholm and Krakow) have recently dropped their Olympic bids, largely because of the huge financial expenses they entail, along with demanding requirements of global sports organizations that are critically perceived by local citizens. In the meantime, many non-Western countries are increasingly eager to host global sports events. Particular manifestations of this trend are FIFA World Cups in South Africa (2014), Russia (2018) and Qatar (2018), as well as Olympic Games in Beijing (2008), Sochi (2014) and, again, in Beijing in a not-so-distant future (2022). This trend might be explained from different angles—economic, political, cultural, and the like—and deserves greater attention, since it provides a framework for analysis of the larger dynamics in world politics, stretching far beyond sports as such.