Sport, the Military and Peacemaking: history and possibilities

Abstract

This paper examines the role and contribution of peacemaking to the wider sport, development and peace (sdp) sector. Particular attention is paid to a hitherto under-explored subject: the complex position of the military vis-à-vis sport and sport-related peacekeeping. Through an historical overview of the sport–military intersection, reference to fieldwork in Bosnia and Liberia, and a brief examination of the Conseil Internationale du Sport Militaire, some critical and cautious conclusions are put forth. We suggest that sport-based peacemaking interventions provide the military with a new kind of institutional function, and fresh ways of building positive social links to civilian populations. However, such engagement is only possible if full dialogical engagement between civilians and peacekeeping forces is established, in which the military adapt their practices to suit the local cultural context.

Acknowledgements

The authors are indebted to Brigadier General Gianni Gola, Captain Roberto Correia, Major Pedro Gagliardi and Lt-Colonel Suzana Tkava for the time and hospitality afforded them when guests of cism. Thanks are also due to Jacob Wilmer, who inspired our thinking. Giulianotti's research was financed through a grant from the Nuffield Foundation. Our gratitude is extended to the anonymous reviewers whose constructive comments assisted in the completion of this paper. Sincere thanks are extended to the editors of this edition for the opportunity they provided to publish our research.

Notes

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27 M Kaldor, New and Old Wars: Organised Violence in a Global Era, Cambridge: Polity, 1999.

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32 See G Armstrong, ‘The global footballer and the local war zone: George Weah and transnational networks in Liberia, West Africa’, Global Networks, 7(2), 2004, pp 230–247.

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39 WS McNamara, ‘The international military sports council (cism): its contribution to the Olympic Games and to world sports’, Journal of Physical Education, 11, 1975, pp 8–13.

40 See Giulianotti, ‘The sport, development and peace sector’.

41 For example, the 2009 Peace and Sport International Forum, hosted in Monaco, featured a plenary session on the role of the military, and included speakers from cism, the UN in West Africa, and an ngo based particularly in the former Yugoslavia.