Sport as a Tool of Building Political Alliances: The Case of the Games of New Emerging Forces (GANEFO)

Abstract

The article investigates the issue of sports diplomacy pursued in order to build political alliance. The research is a case study concerning an attempt to bring the non-aligned countries closer through Games of New Emerging Forces (GANEFO). The aim of the research is to answer a question whether GANEFO was in fact an attempt to create a political alliance. This initiative was developed by communist China and Indonesia, therefore the research also referred to their political motivations concerning the event. This allowed to test a hypothesis stating that GANEFO was a simultaneous effect of independent sports diplomacies pursued by Beijing and Jakarta, even though they have cooperated.