The Normative Legitimacy Gap: International Sports Associations, Human Rights and Stakeholder Democracy

ABSTRACT

This conceptual paper explores whether the normative legitimacy of International Sports Associations (ISAs) such as Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) requires an active promotion of human rights conventions. The contention is that ISAs, which are founded on principles of neutrality and autonomy, can no longer rely merely on their internal stakeholders to make legitimate decisions when it comes to episodes where sport and human rights clash. Two situations where this claim applies are the FIA’s funding of Syrian motorsport activities and the FIFA’s involvement in the Israel/Palestine conflict, which have created considerable debate outside the ISAs. These examples are therefore used as basis for a discussion of the ISAs’ philosophical stance on human rights as much as their legal duties as non-governmental organizations.

KEYWORDS:

• Legitimacy
• international sports associations
• neutrality
• autonomy
• stakeholder democracy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. A previous version of this paper was presented at the World Congress of Sport Sociology in Lausanne, 2018. I thank all those who commented on the presentation.

2. This quote is taken from https://www.engso.com/organisation (accessed 15 June 2017).

3. ‘FIFA Won’t Intervene in Palestinian-Israeli Crisis Over Settlement Soccer Teams’, Haaretz, 27 October, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/sports/fifa-won-t-intervene-in-crisis-over-settlement-soccer-teams-1.5460983 .

4. ‘Israel Steps up Lobbying to Stop FIFA Suspending Settlement Football Teams’, Independent, 20 April, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-fifa-stop-settlement-football-teams-suspend-west-bank-gaza-strip-lobbying-a7693376.html.

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6. ‘FIFA Council Statement on the Final Report by the FIFA Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine’, fifa.com, 27 October, 2017. Retrieved from http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news/y=2017/m=10/news=fifa-council-statement-on-the-final-report-by-the-fifa-monitoring-comm-2917741.html.

7. ‘FIFA Council Statement on the Final Report by the FIFA Monitoring Committee Israel-Palestine’, fifa.com, 27 October, 2017. Retrieved from http://www.fifa.com/about-fifa/news/y=2017/m=10/news=fifa-council-statement-on-the-final-report-by-the-fifa-monitoring-comm-2917741.html.

8. This information was retrieved 22 November 2017 from: https://www.fia.com/fia-sport-grant-programme.

9. ‘F1 Money Given to Syrian Organisation with Strong Links to Assad Regime’, Independent, 7 September, 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017 from: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/motor-racing/Formula1/f1-money-syria-president-assad-regime-fia-grant-150000-a7934231.html.

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11. Source of information: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/financial-sanctions-syria.

12. Source of information: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:02012R0036-20170927andfrom=EN .

13. Source of information: https://www.ihrb.org/megasportingevents/mse-about.

14. Source of information: http://www.sportandhumanrights.org/wordpress/index.php/2015/07/06/sport-and-rights-alliance/; ‘Sport for Rights Coalition Letter to Bernard Ecclestone’, hrw.org, 5 May 2017. Retrieved 20 November 2017 from: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/05/17/sport-rights-coalition-letter-bernard-ecclestone; ‘Civil Society Organizations Urge Sponsors of Baku 2015 to Consider Human Rights Impacts’, Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, 17 March 2015. Retrieved 25 May 2018 from https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/civil-society-organizations-urge-sponsors-of-baku-2015-to-consider-human-rights-impacts.

15. ‘Resolution of the Council and of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, of 21 May 2014 on the European Union Work Plan for Sport (2014–2017).’ Retrieved 20 November 2017 from: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:42014Y0614(03)andfrom=EN.

16. ‘Raising the Game’, Auto+ Assembly, Daily Newsletter #4, 8 December 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2018 from https://www.google.com/url?sa=tandrct=jandq=andesrc=sandsource=webandcd=9andved=0ahUKEwip45ijo-TbAhVqCpoKHYFbCbAQFghVMAgandurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.fia.com%2Ffile%2F64378%2Fdownload%2F20719%3Ftoken%3D0K816zfvandusg=AOvVaw0q3MhZTr8a-g0vaFgAV9lX.

17. ‘FIFA Declines Action against Israel despite Palestinian Pressure’, The Jerusalem Post, 27 October, 2017. Retrieved from: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Sports/FIFA-declines-action-against-Israel-despite-Palestinian-pressure-508625 .