Kosovo: Entering through the Sport’s Door?

Dario Brentin and Loïc Tregoures, scholars at the University of Graz and the University of Lille, respectively, have published a new article on the intersection of sports, politics and nation branding. Their piece explores the public diplomacy significance of Kosovo’s full membership into the International Olympic Committee (IOC), noting that its inclusion into the “Olympic Family” signifies “both the ‘end’ and ‘beginning’ of Kosovo’s diplomatic endeavour towards international recognition.” The case study documents Kosovo's soft power journey to IOC recognition, the strategic significance of sports diplomacy as a soft power asset, and why Kosovo's national recognition strategy differed from two other newly established nation states: Montenegro (2006) and South Sudan (2011). The authors conclude by postulating what, if anything, Kosovo’s ascension into the IOC might mean for its political recognition by UN member states.  

The full article is available here.

Photo by Paul Domenick | CC BY-NC-ND 2.0