Reviews : The Government and Politics of Sport, London: (Routledge, 1991, x + 269 pp. ISBN — b 0415 05402 8, Pb 0415 05403 6; Hb £40, Pb £12.99). Barrie Houlihan
| DOI | 10.1177/095207679100600308 |
| Published date | 01 December 1991 |
| Author | Richard Giulianotti |
| Date | 01 December 1991 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
63
relations
and
international
law
must
resolve
most
of
the
problems
associated
with
organisations
like
the
OECD.
Its
treatment
here
is
at
least
questionable.
Part
VI
(conclusion):
The
success
of
the
book
must
be
measured
by
its
claim
to
offer
the
first
’transnational’
comparison
of PGOs
and
a
theoretical
explanation
for
them.
From
my
point
of
view
it
is
not
the
editors’
fault
that
the
work
of
comparison
is
not
carried.very
far.
International
conducted
research
seldom
meets
very
high
expectations.
But
as
a
first
step
in
the
field
this
book
provides
far
more
than
a
pure
collection
of
papers
-
it
shows
the
variety
of
approaches
on
different
political
levels
and’
demonstrates
clearly
where
comparisons
help
to
understand
these
differences.
Only
the
theoretical
model
offered
seems
to
be
rather
weak,
so
the
editors’
conclusion
that
’more
theory
and
more
evaluation’
is
needed
appears
to
be
correct.
Klaus
Schubert
Ruhr-Universität
Bochum
Germany
The
Government
and
Politics
of
Sport,
London:
(Routledge,
1991,
x
+
269
pp.
ISBN —
b
0415
05402
8,
Pb
0415
05403
6;
Hb
£40,
Pb
£12.99).
Barrie
Houlihan
Academics
and
students
interested
in
the
political
and
sociological
analysis
of
sport
will
have
noticed,
as
Barrie
Houlihan
does,
that
for
an
avowedly
anti-
interventionist
government,
the
current
Conservative
administration
has
continued
the
late
post-war
trend
towards
the
executive
taking
an
increasingly
interventionist
role
in
sport.
In
such
circumstances,
the
social
sciences
greatly
requires
a
major
publication
which
picks
its
way
nimbly
through
complex
undergrowth,
disentangling
the
inter-connections
and
contested
boundaries
between
central
and
local
government,
quangos,
independent
sporting
governing
bodies
and
private
organisations,
from
which
public
policy
on
sport
eventually
emerges.
Barrie
Houlihan’s
book
endeavours
to
provide
this,
examining
sport
from
a
(neo)pluralist
perspective.
It
certainly
furnishes
the
reader with
a
highly
accessible
if
contestable
account
of
pluralism’s
probity
in
the
analysis
of
sports
policy.
Almost
predictably,
the
modem
book
format
and
the
constraints
of
his
adopted
viewpoint
conspire
to
limit
his
achievements.
. The
book
identifies
all
the
major
players
in
the
construction
of formal
sports
policy.
Their
official
interconnections
are
mapped
out
across
several
chapters,
focusing
on
the
respective
sporting
concerns
of
central
government,
local
government,
the
Sports
Council,
and
the
various
strategies
of
some
major
governing
bodies
(in
athletics,
football
and
hockey
primarily).
Houlihan’s
case
is
made
more
effectively
by
his
regular
inclusion
of
several
figures
delineating
lines
of
communication
between
relevant
organisations,
and
tables
detailing
areas
of
jurisdiction
and
expenditure
on
sport
for
public
sector
bodies.
The
overall
picture
is
a
familiar
if
well
informed
one,
of
bureaucracies
stultifying
innovation
and
wholesale
rationalisation
of
public
policy
on
sport.
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