PhD defence: The struggle for clean sports

Anti-doping strategies from 1960 to 2009

Ulrik Wagner

PhD thesis

The main problem to be dealt with is: How have international sport organizations approached the problem of doping in sports in the period from 1960 to 2009? In 5 articles it investigates various aspects of changing international organizational anti-doping efforts before, during and after the establishment of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The point of departure is the construction of WADA in 1999. The creation of a new global governing body marks a crucial change in how international sport federations have approached doping in sport. The tensions between the new agency, political organizations and large international sport federations show that this transformation process has not been unproblematic. In order to understand these problems the thesis combines a historical perspective with organizational sociological theories derived from the system theory developed by German sociologist Niklas Luhmann, figurational sociology and new institutionalism. The focus is on anti-doping efforts carried out by the International Olympic Committee, FIFA, IAAF and the UCI between 1960 and 2009. By investigating past organizational efforts and current conflicts, the research presented here may contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of future challenges and conflicts in the efforts to fight the use of doping in sports.

2009, 180 pages, DKR 100,-
ISBN: 978 87 917 71 231

Time

Tuesday the 11 November 2009 at 13:00 o'clock

Place

Store Auditorium, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, Nørre Allé 53, DK-2200 Copenhagen N

Opponents

Professor Jan Ove Tangen, Telemark University, College, Norway

Professor Barrie Houlihan, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, United Kingdom

Associate professor Sine Agergaard, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences,
University of Copenhagen, Denmark (chairman)

Supervisor

Professor Gertrud Pfister, Department of Exercise and Sport Sciences, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Denmark.