The Sociology of Sport and the Quest for Peace in the Middle East: Between Idealism and Fatalism

Professor John Sugden

The Question?

What difference does the fact that its director is a sociologist make for the

Football Peace Programme?

Northern Ireland 1982-1996

Anglo GamesGaelic Games

Belfast The ‘Troubles’ University of Ulster

Belfast United

Israel and Palestine2001-2010

Deep structure of a sociological framework

• Pragmatism the science of the possible whereby action and intervention is linked to outcomes which themselves are based upon a critical assessment of what can be achieved within a given set of circumstances;

• Left-Realism: the mobilisation of a radical and critical sociology in determining strategies for progressive engagement with social problems with a view to making interventions and developing policies in the service of social justice (praxis);

• Transformative Civil Society Actions: understanding the dynamic between political processes and forms of cultural intervention and resistance;

• Human Rights: ‘education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace’. (Article 26 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights,1948)

The Journey Back to C. Wright Mills• Illustrating the value of a ‘sociological imagination’ in

the design, delivery, and evaluation of sport-based conflict resolution interventions*.

• *C. Wright Mills and the End of Violence, (J. D. Brewer, 2003)

C. Wright Mills, the Sociological Imagination and Understanding/Contributing to Peace Processes*

• A sociology of peace process should not offer grand theory or a universal scheme to understand peace processes in general, but is restricted in its applicability to specified cases that exist in real time and space – context is everything;

• History is a critical feature of this context;• Understanding peace processes must focus on the intersection between biography,

social structure and the political process;• Develop appropriate theoretical explanations based on a dialogue between

experiential knowledge and ‘informed eclecticism’;• It is important to understand and harness the interaction between the local and

the societal by exploring how ordinary people experience conflict and its consequences, and whose responses to which affects the conflict and the peace process (dialectic between ‘personal troubles’ and ‘public issues’);

• Don’t be a bystander – critically engage, intervene and disseminate

Surface Theories: Models of Conflict Resolution and Strategies for Action

• Incremental peace building from below – Freire and Curle

• Gaultung’s 3 Rs–Reconstruction, Reconciliation, Resolution• Re-humanzing through shared rituals – Schirch• Subsystem approaches – Duggan’s Nested Web• Strategic Networking – Lederach

1. Children (RSG)

2. Significant Others

4. Network Partners5. Policy Communities

6.PoliticalSociety

3. Local Leaders

7.International Dimensions

Human RightsSocial Justice

TranscendingSocial & PoliticalContext

Research &Evaluation

Critical Pragmatism

Design and Development

The Ripple Effect

Laying an RSG: Quality of Contact & Promoting Values Through Sport Education

• Equality and inclusiveness

• Trust

• Respect

• Responsibility

Jerusalem: Contested Terrain

• Jerusalem occupied by Israel 1967;

• Jurisdiction over Arab East Jerusalem and the Old City considered illegal by the U.N.

• Jerusalem has always been a deeply divided/shared city but historically has learned to manage this

Bethlehem

I’ll be back!Horst Dassler

Joao Havelange

AlexFerguson

FranzBeckenbauer

Chuck Blazer

Sepp Blatter

Lennart Johansson

Alec McGivern

Isa Hayatou

Charlie Dempsey

Michael Zen-Ruffinen

Jack Warner

MichaelPlatini

PeterVeleplan

Nicolás Leoz