Crafting Legacies: The Changing Political Economy of Global Sport and the 2010 FIFA World Cup™

Abstract

This special issue focuses on the political contours of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ and explores some of the possible legacies that are likely to be left in the wake of the tournament. As crucial processes of planning and policy-making gain momentum, a number of prominent features start to appear and provide some indication of likely longer-term outflows from the event. These include the manner in which infrastructural preparations toward the event are based around the development of key mega-projects which, while aimed at providing an underpinning to the hosting of the event, are also leaving significant imprints on urban spatial planning and budgeting; the extent to which central economic sectors are targeted in the assignment of resources, but also how specific economic actors (construction firms, etc.) are absorbing much of the invested public capital; and finally, the ways in which broader state-building processes tend to be tied to the perceived agenda and requirements of the upcoming event. The special issue therefore addresses some of the major political questions that arise from the emergent patterns of capital expenditure, sectoral developments, and social-cultural processes prompted by the event.

Notes

1. Subsequent Games were held in: Lagos (1973); Algiers (1978 and 2007); Nairobi (1987); Cairo (1991); Harare (1995); Johannesburg (1999); and Abuja (2003). The tournament scheduled to be held in Bamako in 1969 was cancelled due to a military coup which took place that year. The next All Africa Games are scheduled to be held in Lusaka in 2011.

2. The fracas surrounding Green Point Stadium started in the earlier part of 2006 with a stand-off between the provincial government of the Western Cape and the newly elected city mayor, Helen Zille, who, initially unwilling to commit city resources to construct a new stadium at the Green Point site, eventually assented to the project, and construction work commenced on the site at a total projected cost of R1.6bn. The debacle around the stadium continued when a residential lobby group filed a late suit in 2007 in an attempt to halt the project.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Scarlett Cornelissen

* Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Stellenbosch. Email: [email protected]