Indicator culture in sport for development and peace: a transnational analysis of governance networks

Abstract

This article offers a transnational analysis of sport for development and peace (SDP) governance, focusing specifically on the role of indicator culture. Building on earlier attempts to use actornetwork theory to study law and governance, it illuminates how a focus on indicator culture requires considering how actors, both human and nonhuman, inform SDP governance. It draws upon multi-sited ethnographic research conducted at the United Nations and in Oceania and considers how bureaucratic mechanisms, political and funding mandates, and postcolonial ideologies converge. Taken together, they point to emergent tensions within the broader embrace of indicator culture across domains of governance.