Knowledge, power and politics: Contesting ‘evidence-based’ national sport policy

Joe Piggin , Steve Jackson, Malcolm Lewis

UNITEC, NZ (now Loughbrough, UK), University of Otago

2009

International Review for the Sociology of Sport. 44, 87-101

Joe Piggin

Loughbrough of University:

J.J.Piggin@lboro.ac.uk

This article analyses the sources of knowledge New Zealand sport and recreation policy-makers rely on when forming public policy. Specifically, utilizing a Foucauldian lens of governmentality, we consider how New Zealand sport and recreation policy is influenced by various sources of knowledge. Through analysis of official policy documents, media releases and interviews with senior New Zealand policy managers, we argue that despite claims of positivistic, `evidence-based’ policy, writers draw on a wide range of knowledge sources. Thus, despite being governed by positivism, policy-makers themselves utilize other, multifarious sources of knowledge in order to construct national sport policy. We offer considerations for the future setting of such public policy, and in particular suggest the existing rationale for the formulation of public policy could be altered to acknowledge these wide ranging knowledges.

Keywords:

sport policy, politics

For information on how to access the full text of this article, go to http://irs.sagepub.com/content/44/1/87.abstract or contact your local or organisational library for assistance

Qualitative

National

High performance, Outdoor Recreation, Physical activity, Recreation, Sport

Management, Planning, Policy

1551

November 27, 2013

November 27, 2013