Marko Begovic

• Begovic, Marko (2024). The Montenegrin Olympic Committee: exploring issues in Sports Governance. Managing Sport and Leisure. ISSN 2375-0472. doi: 10.1080/23750472.2024.2384491. Vis sammendrag

  The recent doping scandal in Montenegro waterpolo team during the World Aquatics Championships in Qatar this year, yet again opened the debate on a number of sports-related governance issues. The foundation of these challenges lies in the very essence of how the sports ecosystem is structured, organized, and operated. The major outputs of the contemporary studies confirmed that the politicization of relations within the sports ecosystem plays a principal role, in shaping, directing, and utilizing sports for non-sporting objectives. The results indicate that this constellation has been facilitated through the transformation of informal practices into regulatory regimes or bypassing, when needed, existing legislative frameworks in order to contribute to institutional stability. The politicization represents a joint determinant of the closed, vertically structured governing bodies and decision-making system with long-lasting individuals in decision-making positions without any internal or external control in practice. The internal regulations facilitate no restrictions on conflicts of interest, measures aimed to tackle corruption, or to provide a check and balance system between governing bodies. Furthermore, following the public service culture, the Montenegro Olympic Committee maintains its closed and exclusive composition of governing bodies rests on discretionary power and a decision-making approach with a democratic deficit.

• Begovic, Marko & Garcia, Borja (2024). Development of contemporary sport ecosystem in Kosovo. International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. ISSN 1940-6940. s. 1–11. doi: 10.1080/19406940.2024.2378162. Vis sammendrag

  This paper presents the contemporary development of the sport ecosystem in Kosovo. Despite having neither de jure recognition nor a chair in the UN, Kosovo managed to ensure a seat at global sport forums and secured podium spots at major sport events. Although heavily supported by Western countries and institutions, the internal challenges of Kosovo remain complex, particularly in terms of creating inclusive environments and public policies. This paper is structured around key policy features and structures of Kosovo’s sport ecosystem and presents the role of the primary public and non-governmental actors. After its declaration of independence in 2008, the political support and institutions that are necessary to formulate a strategic direction and develop public policies for sport have been limited, with a centralised concentration of power within the public sector. Additionally, the current organisational structure of sport lacks a clear autonomy, which creates challenges for the implementation of sport policies in the future. An analysis of documents confirms that the use of an evidence-based approach and the development and implementation of policies has been inconsistent. Keywords: Kosovo; policymaking; public sector; Western balkans; sport policy.

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• Begovic, Marko (2024). Sports policy and politics in the Western Balkans. Routledge. ISBN 9781032160733. 198 s. Vis sammendrag

  This book examines how states in the post-socialist Western Balkans region have used sport as a policy tool, and how sport in the region has been shaped by politics, history, and culture. Looking closely at the intersection of sports policy and politics in the countries of Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, this book explores the roles of sport in nation-building and how sport has been used by regimes looking to establish political legitimacy in the transition from the post-socialist era. It offers a fascinating insight into the way that sport has been co-opted for political purposes, and into the complexities of formulating sports policy and wider public policy in societies in which governance structures may be weak and in which clientelism, corruption, and partisanship pose constant challenges. This book is fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the history and politics of sport, in public policy, or in the history, politics, and culture of the former Yugoslav countries.

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