Assessing the peacebuilding institutional capacity of sport in armed state conflicts

Abstract

In this study, we evaluated the institutional capacity of sport in peacebuilding, with a focus on the Russian– Ukrainian armed conflict as a primary case study. We aimed to validate hypotheses regarding: 1) the influence of specific foreign policy conflicts' characteristics (severity, aggression levels, value disparities between parties, casualty rates, and destruction scales) on the sports institution's ability to fulfill its peacebuilding function; and 2) the distinction between the peacebuilding role of the sports institution and the current stage of relations between opposing parties (active armed aggression, tension, post-conflict reconciliation efforts, etc.). The research confirms that the sports institution can actively engage in democratic peacebuilding processes, yet it also has the potential to be manipulated by undemocratic regimes pursuing aggressive foreign policies. Additionally, despite the global sports community's rhetoric on the value of peace, there appears to be a lack of strong political will tocounter aggressive states, with some nations in the global sports network even undermining the institutional capacity of sport to effectively contribute to peacebuilding efforts. It is argued that the peacebuilding role of sports is most fully realized in the absence of open armed confrontation between states, when some rapprochement of states is possible through the interactions of athletes and sports institutions, involvement in joint sports events, etc.