Browsing by Subject "frame-building"

The interrelation between politics and sport is seldom discussed within academia, despite its prominence in both historical and modern diplomacy, and media. This thesis contributes towards filling in these gaps, highlighting why it is beneficial as an emerging academic topic. Whilst it has been argued that sport diplomacy is detrimental towards international relations, the overwhelming majority conclude that sport diplomacy helps to move international diplomacy forward. This thesis addresses these developments, considering the historical developments since the Cold War period. It analyses specifically the frame-setting of diplomatic action within sport since February 2022, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This thesis builds upon on the literature on soft powers and nation branding, addressing how they play a role within diplomatic events in sport. This framework recognises how sport diplomacy has been, and still is, used to project a nation’s values and political interests. The concern lies between sporting diplomatic action between Europe and the Russian Federation in the twenty-first century, and identifying how sporting mega-events (SMEs) have been used as a vehicle of political messaging. This thesis considers two particular cases of how sport diplomacy has been received within news media. It addresses the international case of the 2024 Olympic Games, and the national perspective of the Finnish ice-hockey team Helsingin Jokerit’s 2022 withdrawal from the Kontinental Hockey League. The thesis utilises a qualitative frame analysis upon these two cases, focusing on clusters of media publications surrounding two key events within the discussion. It then compares the frame-building of sport diplomacy, and the frame-setting of these reports (whether conscious or unconscious) to consider how it may affect public perceptions of sport diplomacy. Fundamentally, the thesis establishes the changes in the use of sport diplomacy since 2022, and recognizes how its impact varies between international and national cases. This opens up a discussion for further research, and considerations of how sport diplomacy should be recognized from various state and non-state actors. It concludes that sport diplomacy is an impactful vehicle for political messaging, and, although the Cold War acted as a catalyst for cultural diplomacy, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has opened the floodgates for the use of sport diplomacy within Europe, and a greater recognition of its potential should be recognized by academics, politicians and non-state sporting actors alike.