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The power of FIFA over national governments: a new actor in world politics?

The role of economic actors and transnational corporations in transforming the world’s political and economic order has received increased attention. However, it is still controversial to what extent private governance regimes operate in an effective ‘shadow of hierarchy’. In other words, it is deba...

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Main Authors: Borja Garcia-Garcia, Henk-Erik Meier
Format: Default Conference proceeding
Published: 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/2134/15885
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author Borja Garcia-Garcia
Henk-Erik Meier
author_facet Borja Garcia-Garcia
Henk-Erik Meier
author_sort Borja Garcia-Garcia (1256169)
collection Figshare
description The role of economic actors and transnational corporations in transforming the world’s political and economic order has received increased attention. However, it is still controversial to what extent private governance regimes operate in an effective ‘shadow of hierarchy’. In other words, it is debated the extent to which governments and international organizations are able to regulate and exert their powers over transnational social and economic actors. This paper uses the case of world football’s governing body, FIFA, to investigate the extent to which sport international actors may condition the decisions of democratically elected national governments. The paper provides comparative case study evidence that FIFA as football’s global regulator has been able to force national governments to abandon legislation and interference in football’s matters even in case of blatant failures of football’s governance. Research supports the claim that private regimes providing unique governance contributions represent an institutional equilibrium able to resist challenges. FIFA’s ‘victories’ over national governments demonstrate the political leverage of football and its governing body, but they are highly problematic since they discourage national governments to fight misconduct in sport, while it can be doubted that sport organizations alone can deal with the regulatory problems at stake.
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institution Loughborough University
publishDate 2014
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spelling rr-article-96246232014-01-01T00:00:00Z The power of FIFA over national governments: a new actor in world politics? Borja Garcia-Garcia (1256169) Henk-Erik Meier (7241222) Other health sciences not elsewhere classified untagged Medical and Health Sciences not elsewhere classified The role of economic actors and transnational corporations in transforming the world’s political and economic order has received increased attention. However, it is still controversial to what extent private governance regimes operate in an effective ‘shadow of hierarchy’. In other words, it is debated the extent to which governments and international organizations are able to regulate and exert their powers over transnational social and economic actors. This paper uses the case of world football’s governing body, FIFA, to investigate the extent to which sport international actors may condition the decisions of democratically elected national governments. The paper provides comparative case study evidence that FIFA as football’s global regulator has been able to force national governments to abandon legislation and interference in football’s matters even in case of blatant failures of football’s governance. Research supports the claim that private regimes providing unique governance contributions represent an institutional equilibrium able to resist challenges. FIFA’s ‘victories’ over national governments demonstrate the political leverage of football and its governing body, but they are highly problematic since they discourage national governments to fight misconduct in sport, while it can be doubted that sport organizations alone can deal with the regulatory problems at stake. 2014-01-01T00:00:00Z Text Conference contribution 2134/15885 https://figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/The_power_of_FIFA_over_national_governments_a_new_actor_in_world_politics_/9624623 CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
spellingShingle Other health sciences not elsewhere classified
untagged
Medical and Health Sciences not elsewhere classified
Borja Garcia-Garcia
Henk-Erik Meier
The power of FIFA over national governments: a new actor in world politics?
title The power of FIFA over national governments: a new actor in world politics?
title_full The power of FIFA over national governments: a new actor in world politics?
title_fullStr The power of FIFA over national governments: a new actor in world politics?
title_full_unstemmed The power of FIFA over national governments: a new actor in world politics?
title_short The power of FIFA over national governments: a new actor in world politics?
title_sort power of fifa over national governments: a new actor in world politics?
topic Other health sciences not elsewhere classified
untagged
Medical and Health Sciences not elsewhere classified
url https://hdl.handle.net/2134/15885