The Olympics and 'Global Citizenship'

This paper develops a citizenship-based perspective on an important but under-researched global cultural movement, namely, the Olympic Movement. Drawing on recent research into the Olympics and other popular cultural 'mega-event' movements [M. Roche (2000) Mega-events and Modernity: Olympics, Expos and the Growth of Global Culture (London, Routledge)], the paper outlines a conceptual framework for analysing the Olympics in terms 'global citizenship'. 'Global citizenship' is taken to refer on the one hand to 'universal citizenship' (individualized human rights) and on the other hand to 'global corporate citizenship' (corporate action in international civil society). This framework is then applied in a discussion of some of the contemporary Olympic Movement's main problems and one of its main projects, the 'Olympic Truce'.