State and Sport in Developing Societies

Abstract

Ironically, at a time when some in the Western metropoles are casting doubt on Western sports in their competitive and commodified form, including in the Olympic Games-which are often said to have become too big, too nationalistic, too political and too commercialised - some governments of developing societies are among the strongest defenders of the colonial faith, of the Western sports and the Olympics. This article sets out to examine some of the reasons for this and the dilemmas Western sports pose. The paper suggests that the major state priorities that many developing nations assign sport include nation-building, integration, defence, hygiene and health, social policies such as the emancipation of women, and international recogniton.