ABSTRACT

In the fields of politics, history and international relations, the phrase sport diplomacy has attracted a growing multi-disciplinary interest in debate around relations between different actors. In this article we trace the emergence of academic literature connected to sport diplomacy and further identify the relevant empirical, conceptual and theoretical frames used to study sport diplomacy. Using an integrated review approach, we collected peer-reviewed journal articles published between 2000 and 2020, with 224 articles subsequently analysed for key attributes such as research location and type of diplomacy. The results and discussion support and challenge some current tropes connected to sport diplomacy research, such as the overreliance on case studies, lack of theoretical consistency and dominance of research from higher-income countries. Further, we highlight opportunities for scholars to develop empirical and theoretical bridges between fields to overcome disciplinary differences and engage with the growing organisational interest to operationalise sport diplomacy. This review of sport diplomacy literature and opens up lines of inquiry for sport management and sport development scholars to further advance our understanding of sport diplomacy.

摘要

在政治、历史和国际关系领域，体育外交一词在围绕不同参与者之间关系的辩论中引起了越来越多的多学科兴趣。在本文中，我们追溯了与体育外交相关的学术文献的出现，并进一步确定了用于研究体育外交的相关实证、概念和理论框架。我们使用综合审查方法，收集了 2000 年至 2020 年间发表的同行评审期刊文章，随后分析了 224 篇文章的关键属性，例如研究地点和外交类型。结果和讨论支持和挑战了一些当前与体育外交研究相关的比喻，例如过度依赖案例研究、缺乏理论一致性以及高收入国家的研究占主导地位。此外，我们强调学者有机会在不同领域之间建立经验和理论桥梁，以克服学科差异，并参与日益增长的组织兴趣，以实施体育外交。这篇对体育外交文献的回顾为体育管理和体育发展学者开辟了调查渠道，以进一步加深我们对体育外交的理解。