{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,3,26]],"date-time":"2026-03-26T16:28:45Z","timestamp":1774542525437,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":72,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,16]],"date-time":"2024-08-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1723766400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Sports Act. Living"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The successful emergence of the Gulf states as central players in the global sporting ecosystem has revived the intellectual debate on the political and diplomatic use of sport. In the last decade, the amount of research on the topic have radically increase. The old narrative traditions explaining sport diplomacy have recently been joined by a new set of literature about the concept of sportswashing, which questions the place of non-democratic governments in the sporting world. Considering that current approaches are somehow limited to explain the real scope of the situation, this article proposes a new systematization of the political and diplomatic use of sport today, differentiating between practices, actors, and objectives. The aim is to demonstrate how sport as a tool of soft power has transcended the limits of public diplomacy and goes far beyond the simplistic and preconceptual analysis developed by authors who support the concept of sportswashing. The new conceptual framework warns that the politicization of sport is not always positive and shows how some political practices can jeopardies the core values of sport and delegitimize its positive aspect. The results open a new agenda for political science research on a topic that, despite its interest and importance, remains understudied.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fspor.2024.1316732","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,16]],"date-time":"2024-08-16T04:41:12Z","timestamp":1723783272000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Current political uses of sport revised: beyond public diplomacy and sportswashing"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Rafael","family":"Costa","sequence":"first","affiliation":[]},{"given":"Marcelo","family":"Moriconi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,8,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","unstructured":"The Saudis in Sport: Ambitions Much Larger Than Sportswashing, Play the Game.(2022) ElsborgS"},{"key":"B2","unstructured":"The Expansion of Saudi Investment in Sport: From Football to Esport, Play the Game ElsborgS"},{"key":"B3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"354","DOI":"10.1177\/22338659221120065","article-title":"Qatar\u2019s multi-actors sports strategy: diplomacy, critics, and legitimisation","volume":"25","author":"S\u00f8yland","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int Area Stud Rev"},{"key":"B4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1807","DOI":"10.1080\/01436597.2023.2200159","article-title":"Nation-state strategies for human capital development: the case of sports mega-events in Qatar","volume":"44","author":"Brannagan","year":"2023","journal-title":"Third World Q"},{"key":"B5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"572","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-856X.12017","article-title":"Sports mega-events as part of a nation\u2019s soft power strategy: the cases of Germany (2006) and the UK (2012)","volume":"16","author":"Grix","year":"2014","journal-title":"Brit J Polit Int Rel"},{"key":"B6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"521","DOI":"10.1080\/13600826.2013.827632","article-title":"Soft power, sports mega-events and emerging states: the lure of the politics of attraction","volume":"27","author":"Grix","year":"2013","journal-title":"Glob Soc"},{"key":"B7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3008","DOI":"10.1080\/09523367.2010.508306","article-title":"The geopolitics of global aspiration: sport mega-events and emerging powers","volume":"27","author":"Cornelissen","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int J Hist Sport"},{"key":"B8","volume-title":"Qatar\u2019s Sports Strategy: A Case of Sports Diplomacy or Sportswashing? 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