The Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences (DCSPT), University of Aveiro, is delighted to announce the new dates of the Second International Conference of the PSA Sport & Politics Group – “Sport, Power and Politics: Challenges in a changing global structure”. We are looking forward to welcoming you all to Aveiro and our university on June 16 and 17, 2022.

DCSPT has recently been investing in the study and research of sport. In June 2018, with the support of the Research Unit on Governance, Competitiveness and Public Policies (GOVCOPP) we held the international conference “Sport in a Mobile World: Identity, Culture and Politics”, and since 2019 the department has been nurturing the Sports, Power and Public Policy (SP3) research group, which hosted two international seminars in 2019. Due to the pandemic, we were unable to hold the events scheduled for 2020 and 2021, including the now rescheduled Second International Conference of the PSA Sport & Politics Group.

Whilst this is still a developing area of investigation and research in our department, the organization of this international conference, in cooperation with an association as prestigious as the Political Studies Association’s Sport and Politics Specialist Group, has enormous significant for us. We are honoured by the trust placed in us. We are extremely excited about this and look forward to welcoming you all to the University of Aveiro on June 16 and 17 2022.

Call for Abstracts – “Sport, Power and Politics: Challenges in a changing global structure”

There is nothing new in reaffirming that the economic, political, and social roles of sports are the focus of a great deal of attention in the context of the policy making process. International sport has been traditionally dominated by advanced western nations. The economic growth of emerging countries such as Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa gave rise to a new distribution of world financial power. The acronym BRICS gained global recognition as cooperative links established among these countries located their (re)positioning in the emergent geopolitical global landscape. This development resonated in the sport related geopolitical context. Since the advent of globalization non-Western nations are increasingly promoting themselves in the decision making and economics of international sporting events. This is also evident from the growing investment and sponsorship in international sport by state and non-state actors from non-Western countries (China, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan). It seems pertinent, then, to observe how the rise of non-Western and emerging nations on the sports international stage, due to the resources and potential fan bases they bring, can assist in the understanding they bring to the power conflicts in the geopolitical dynamics of a changing world. At the same time, we note that we are experiencing changes in global politics and society, with the empowerment of women increasingly becoming a reality, alongside the opposition to racial discrimination and inequality and gender bias.The struggles against the global social and economic inequalities that restrict potential human development in many societies forms a significant backdrop to the concerns of the conference. These complex issues underpin its rationale, so that we can reflect on “Sport, Power and Politics: Challenges in a changing global structure” during the event.

We invite empirical, theoretical, and methodological papers from postgraduate students, early-career researchers, established academics and practitioners that address and interrogate, from a critical and global perspective, cultural, social, political, and experiential frameworks of sport. Contributions from the disciplines of public policy, sociology, politics, economics, anthropology, cultural studies, history, communication, law, and psychology are welcome. Possible themes include but are not limited to:

      • The Politics of Global Sport
      • Sport and Identity
      • Sport, Nationalism and Transnationalism
      • Sport Mega Events
      • Sports Policy and Governance
      • Inequality and/in Sport
      • Sport and Race
      • Sport and Gender
      • Sports Business and Sponsorship
      • Sports Law
      • Media and Sport
      • Contemporary Fandom and International Sports

Please send abstracts (300 words maximum) to sp3dcsptua@gmail.com by 23.59 (GMT) on April 10 2022. We accept abstracts in English and Portuguese.

Please contact Emanuel Leite Jr (emanuel.leite.junior@ua.pt) should you have any questions.

Conference fees

100€ attendance
75€ attendance for students

Keynote speakers

      • Dr Richard Giulianotti, Loughborough University, England
      • Dr Stacey Pope, Durham University, England
      • Flávio de Campos, University of São Paulo, Brazil
      • Dr Pippo Russo, University of Florence, Italy

The venue

The conference will take place in the Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences (https://www.ua.pt/dcspt/#) of the University of Aveiro (https://www.ua.pt/).

Conference Dinner

We will inform you of the place and cost involved in due course.