Abstract

In the United Kingdom (UK), since 1997 the New Labour government has built on the principles of 'new public management' (NPM) introduced under previous Conservative administrations as a framework for the ways in which it 'governs' the complex array of organisations and agencies involved in the delivery of public services. The governance of sport policy development has not been immune to the various influences of NPM and the related requirement for a far greater emphasis on evidence-based policy-making. In this respect, the literature on NPM and governance provides the conceptual frame for analysis of the article's two main interrelated aims. The first is to identify and analyse the realignment of the ways in which government and its national sporting agencies 'interact' with key 'delivery partners' charged with implementing national sport policy. We use the term 'changing modes of sport governance' to capture this phenomenon. The second aim is to evaluate the ways in which these changing modes of governance have impacted upon the government's drive to realise two of its contemporary sport policy priorities: i) support for developing elite athletes; and ii) raising sport and physical activity participation rates across the public at large. Our conclusions suggest that, under current and emerging governance arrangements in the UK, an illusory screen of plural, autonomous and empowered delivery networks for sport obscures the very close ties to, and regulation from, the centre. Verf.-Referat