Feminist Perspectives on Good Governance in Sport: It is the Care that Guides the Doing

Abstract

Inge Claringbould, Annelies Knoppers and Ramon Spaaij challenge cosmopolitanist/universalist perspectives on good governance in sport. Employing two particular feminist approaches, they both call into question the neutrality of knowledge and science and present an alternative to exclusionary notions of ‘good governance’. On one hand, they emphasise dialogical relations as essential for gaining insight into the heterogeneity of knowledge through critical self-reflection on personal positionality and understanding multiple points of view. On the other hand, they propose ‘ethics of care’ as an underlying ‘value of doing’ in governance practices. This implies that, instead of focusing on self-interest and strategy, those involved in ‘doing’ governance should base their action on the care for others in a broad sense.