Sport, development and peace

This volume offers a comprehensive exploration of the rapidly evolving landscape of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP), a critical approach to peacebuilding, economic development, and social transformation gaining increasing stature during the last twenty-five years. Contributors here scrutinize the diversification in SDP methods and ideals, spotlighting global dimensions and differences in this burgeoning field. Encompassing contributions from scholars across five continents, the chapters illuminate diverse approaches and analyses, reflecting a variety of viewpoints and experiences. The volume highlights the heterogeneity within SDP and assesses the trajectory of SDP studies, while also identifying common threads among seemingly disparate approaches. Further, it investigates sport's role in responding to global challenges, from financial crises to the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, and conflicts, and although sport is often recognized for its potential to foster peace and development, this book navigates the intricate complexities and contradictions that can arise in the practice of harnessing sport for these goals. With 14 engaging chapters, the book delves into a range of topics, including critical analyses of different SDP approaches, the sustainability of sport initiatives, alignment of SDP with sustainable development goals, and the use of sport in refugee resettlement. It also examines sport's contribution to societal outcomes like health, education, inequality reduction, and peace, while discussing challenges faced in the field. Moreover, the volume explores the connections between SDP and indigenous philosophies, feminism, local community development, and issues of violence within prisons. Offering a holistic view of SDP's evolution and impact, presenting fresh perspectives as well as critical insights for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers in the realm of international sport, development, and peacebuilding, this volume marks itself an essential resource for understanding the multifaceted landscape of SDP. Dr Joel Rookwood is director of Sport & Exercise Management at University College Dublin in Ireland, and is Head of Research at Aalborg Football Club in Denmark. Joel has led sport-for-development projects across six continents and has published widely in the fields of management, politics and international relations.