The Possibility of Refugee Participation Throughout Olympic History: A Discourse Analysis of the International Olympic Committee's Discursive Construction of the Olympic Games
Author
Pedersen, Trine Nørgaard
Term
4. term
Education
Publication year
2018
Abstract
Dette speciale undersøger, hvordan Den Internationale Olympiske Komité (IOC) har artikuleret De Olympiske Lege gennem historien, og hvad disse artikulationer har betydet for flygtninges mulighed for at deltage. Med udgangspunkt i Ernesto Laclau og Chantal Mouffes diskursteori udføres en diskursanalyse af dokumenter og videoer produceret af IOC og Pierre de Coubertin, organiseret i tre perioder: grundlæggelsen omkring 1894, tiden efter Anden Verdenskrig og etableringen af Refugee Olympic Team i 2016. Analysen viser, at en hegemonisk nationsstatsdiskurs har præget De Olympiske Lege, hvor strukturer og symboler baseret på nationalitet løbende reartikuleres for at håndtere spændinger uden at opgive det grundlæggende verdenssyn. Ved grundlæggelsen blev legene formuleret som internationalt samarbejde mellem nationer, hvilket gjorde flygtninges deltagelse uforenelig med strukturen. Efter krigen blev nationsstaten yderligere konsolideret, og flygtningefiguren blev artikuleret som intergovernmental og inkompatibel med legens rammer. I 2016 reartikulerede IOC legene som et midlertidigt hjem for flygtninge gennem Refugee Olympic Team, der positionerer flygtninge som quasi-borgere af IOC og gør deltagelse mulig, når den styrker nationsstatsdiskursen og IOC’s internationale rolle. Specialet konkluderer, at IOC’s nationsstatsbaserede verdenssyn historisk har styret og betinget muligheden for flygtninges olympiske deltagelse.
This thesis investigates how the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has articulated the Olympic Games over time and what these articulations have meant for refugees’ possibility to participate. Drawing on Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe’s discourse theory, it conducts a discourse analysis of documents and videos produced by the IOC and Pierre de Coubertin across three periods: the founding around 1894, the post–Second World War era, and the creation of the Refugee Olympic Team in 2016. The analysis finds that a hegemonic nation-state discourse has shaped the Olympics, with nationality-based structures and symbols repeatedly rearticulated to manage tensions without abandoning the core worldview. At the founding, the Games were framed as international cooperation among nation-states, rendering refugee participation inconceivable within the structure. After the war, the nation-state was further consolidated, and the refugee figure was articulated as intergovernmental and incompatible with the Olympic framework. In 2016, the IOC rearticulated the Games as a temporary home for refugees through the Refugee Olympic Team, positioning refugees as quasi IOC citizens and making participation possible when it reinforces the nation-state discourse and the IOC’s international role. The thesis concludes that the IOC’s nation-state worldview has historically governed and conditioned the possibility of refugee participation in the Olympic Games.
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