Publications / Articles / 2010 / 2010:009 Democratic Governance and Oligarchy in Voluntary Sport Organizations
Democratic Governance and Oligarchy in Voluntary Sport Organizations
10 (2) :215-239
Project relation:
Sport democracy: participation and discourse
English KeywordsThis article investigates the question as to how oligarchic tendencies affect the democratic governance of voluntary sport organizations in Norway. Approaching the issue empirically, this article presents the results of a qualitative study of the Norwegian Olympic Committee and Confederation of Sports. The data, consisting of several case studies, are analysed along four dimensions of institutional democracy: representation, competition, participation and deliberation. While the findings do not reveal evidence of oligarchic governance, the study underscores that memberships' lack of active participation, informal network-based decision making and issues of representativeness are likely to undermine organizational legitimacy