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Sports policy and politics – the Scandinavian way

The overarching objective of this article is to discuss whether or not one can identify a specific Scandinavian sports policy model. First, the sports policy system of the three Scandinavian countries is presented. Then we sketch some common characteristics of the governments' involvement in sports and discuss to what extent sports policies reflect the broader Scandinavian welfare-state policies. The third part discusses whether increased pluralism in sports challenges the prevailing corporatist-like system existing between voluntary organizations and the state and/or the relationship between the executive and legislative within the government. We conclude that in many respects it is meaningful to talk about a specific Scandinavian sports policy model hallmarked by large, national and voluntary sports organizations with a near monopoly on competitive sports on the one hand and a significant involvement in sports from the government on the other. Further, the parliament plays a minor role, and there are few legal restrictions in the field of sports. However, the degree of concentration of power differs among the three countries, the Danish model being more decentralized and dispersed and the Norwegian model more centralized and concentrated, while the Swedish model lies somewhere in between these two.