SPORT AS A MEETING FIELD OF SOCIO-POLITICAL DEMANDS OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY

Abstract

The importance of sport and sports entities as active factors of the international agenda formation is proven in this article. The arguments for replacing the classic actors of the world arena with non-standard units, such as individual athletes and sports teams and organizations are given in this context. While emphasizing the fact that they are becoming mouthpieces and lobbyists for specific demands of society more and more often, the analysis of such a phenomenon of politicization and socialization of actors as well as the actors’ tools in such activities as symbols, narratives and physical space is carried out as well.
The main research topics of most scholars who focus on the mentioned relationship between politics and sports are nationalism, propaganda, the struggle of ideologies and power through the prism of politics in sport whereas this article also highlights the use of sport as a tool of communication and local identity strengthening. Some of the analyzed sources concern the fixation of events and personalities (Guillem Balague, Dave Zirin, Franklin Foer), while others tackle with philosophical and anthropological issues (Zygmunt Bauman, Erin Tarver, Christopher Gaffney), thanks to which a sufficient level of this phenomena is supplied (especially these are American and British researchers) as well as the need for a multidisciplinary approach to the choice of methodology and areas of analysis is outspoken. The aim of the article is not only to study the sources that shed the light on this issue, but also to give the international (Olympic Games, Mohammed Ali, Marcus Rashford, etc.) and Ukrainian examples (FC «Karpaty») from history and the present.
The importance of analyzing fans’ narratives (banners, songs, perception of themselves and others, etc.) and symbolic objects of the urban landscape (stadiums and sports infrastructure in general) is emphasized in order to understand the trends in society that fans and objects represent.
Key words: structuralism, identity, localization, geodeterminism, sports diplomacy