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Alexander Paulsson . Photo

Alexander Paulsson

Senior lecturer

Alexander Paulsson . Photo

Passing on the torch : Urban governance, mega-event politics and failed olympic bids in Oslo and Stockholm

Author

  • Alexander Paulsson
  • Jens Alm

Summary, in English

While the literature on failed Olympic bids has grown recently, not all failed bids have received attention. This article fills some gap in the literature. The aim of the study is to explore why the cities of Oslo and Stockholm – capitals in countries which are scoring high on various democracy indexes - choose to withdraw their Olympics bids. This is explored by drawing upon literature on urban governance and the politics of mega-events. Through analyzing and comparing the urban governance and decision-making processes in both cases, we suggest that it is possible to understand why cities in ‘democratic’ countries chose to withdraw from process. The results indicate that it is (i) the lack of long-term agreements between and within the two major political parties, as well as (ii) the differentiated scales of institutionalized democratic decision-making processes at the urban and national levels, which ultimately matter for understanding failed Olympic bids in ‘democratic’ cities. By investigating urban governance and institutionalized decision-making processes, it has been possible to understand the politics surrounding the bidding of Olympic mega-events and why cities in countries scoring high on democracy indexes chose to withdraw their applications for hosting the Olympic Games. Taken together, these results add to previous knowledge by moving beyond explanations focusing on fragile growth-coalition and local, popular resistance movements.

Department/s

  • Accounting and Corporate Finance

Publishing year

2020-03

Language

English

Publication/Series

City, Culture and Society

Volume

20

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Elsevier

Topic

  • Political Science (excluding Public Administration Studies and Globalization Studies)

Keywords

  • Decision-making processes
  • Failed bids
  • Olympic games
  • Scandinavian welfare-states
  • Urban governance

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1877-9166