Call for Papers: Soft Power, Sportswashing, and Sport Diplomacy in Latin America and the Caribbean

2025-10-30

The gradual instrumentalization of sport as a tool for international image projection by states, companies, entities, and sports organizations has fostered new discussions and critical research on the use of the so-called "3 Ss" of the sports sphere: soft power, sportswashing and sports diplomacy (Bettine, 2024). The so-called sporting mega-events (Roche, 2000), increasingly inflated sponsorships, the internationalization of brands and clubs, and the transformation of athletes into celebrities beyond the sports arena make sport a rich field of study for understanding political and diplomatic strategies.

The use of a major sporting event, such as an edition of the Men's Football World Cup or the Summer Olympic Games, for example, can be an attractive option for the practice of Soft Power by a State, to clean up the image of a controversial country that violates human rights or to exercise transnational diplomacy while the event takes place (Grix et al., 2015; Grix; Lee, 2013).

In this way, this thematic dossier of the Encuentro Latinoamericano (ELA) invites researchers from the fields of Social Sciences, Political Science, International Relations, Law, and other related subjects to submit original manuscripts that discuss sport as a tool of symbolic, diplomatic, political, and strategic power in Latin America and the Caribbean. This dossier hopes to gather valuable contributions that critically analyze the political and sporting uses in transnational contexts.

The suggested topics for the publication are:

  • The soft power practiced in sports;
  • Sportswashing as an image-cleaning method;
  • Sports diplomacy;
  • Sporting mega-events (World Cup, Olympic Games, etc.);
  • Geopolitical actions through sports;
  • Political relations between the State and international sports organizations;
  • Among other related topics.

 

Manuscripts must be submitted through ELA’s website ( https://ela.iapss.org/index.php/journal/index ) by June 30, 2026. Papers in Portuguese, English, and Spanish are welcomed and all manuscripts will undergo a double-blind peer review process. Complete information on submission guidelines can be found at https://ela.iapss.org/index.php/journal/submissions.

 

The dossier is scheduled to be published in the second semester of 2026.

 

Organizers: Prof. Dr. Marco Antonio Bettine de Almeida (University of São Paulo, Brazil) and Prof. Dr. Guilherme Silva Pires de Freitas (University of São Paulo, Brazil).

 

References:

Bettine, M. 3’S dos Megaeventos esportivos - Soft Power, Sportswashing, Sports Diplomacy: as Copas do Mundo e os países periféricos. São Paulo: Annablume, 2024.

Grix, J.; Brannagan, P. M.; Houlihan, B. Interrogating States Soft Power Strategies: a case study of Sports Mega-Events in Brazil and the UK. Global Society, v. 29, n. 3, p. 463-479, 2015.

Grix, J.; Lee, D. Soft Power, Sports Mega-Events and Emerging States: The Lure of the Politics of Attraction. Global Society, v. 27, n. 4, p. 521-536, 2013.

Roche, M. Mega-eventos e modernidade: Olimpíadas e exposições no crescimento da cultual global. London: Routledge, 2000.