ABSTRACT

While sport is currently seen as a marginal concern at best by peace researchers, the transfer of knowledge between peace research and the SDP sector can have positive gains for evolving theory, policy and practice. The chapter is organised in three parts. The first, ‘Knowledge transfer and peace culture: Expanding the field’, surveys existing work on the connections between peace and sport and uses an approach to peace theory, derived from Elise Boulding. This approach argues for peace as an evolutionary capacity, developed in a wider theory of change than dominant narratives and frameworks in peace and conflict theory, and within which sport can be situated. The second section, ‘Spaces for sport in peace research’, maps the way in which sport might be inserted as a core concern in peace research, using a spatial model provided by Johan Galtung. The third section, ‘Time to change the playing field: Methodologies and future research and challenge’ – suggests ways in which established and emerging peace and conflict research and training methodologies might enhance the development of both theory and practice in the SDP sector.