Dr Scott Blakemore1
1Griffith University, Australia
Biography:
Scott Blakemore is a Lecturer Griffith Business School. While his current role looks to enhancing student experience in the first year, he has previously held roles in the Griffith Asia Institute and as the Program Director for the School of Government and International Relations. His research interests stem from diplomacy and diplomacy theory. While his doctorate focused on the theoretical understanding of faith-based diplomacy, Scott has been interested in how other forces within society can influence the diplomatic process. This includes areas such as public diplomacy, cultural diplomacy, sports diplomacy and so on. Ultimately, his hope is to close the gap between scholarship and practice, knowing that our thinking of the values, interests and potential methods in diplomacy can make for innovations in diplomatic practice. His keen interest in teaching in diplomacy has also seen Scott conduct workshops at the Diplomatic Academy at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Abstract:
In Australia’s most recent Foreign Policy White Paper, inclusion is highlighted as a core value and strategic goal that is integral to maintaining a favourable rules-based regional order that underpins economic growth in the region. This paper explores the aim of a “open, inclusive, and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.” One such policy apparatus that has been developed to achieve this goal is Sport 2030. This strategy uses the vehicle of sport to achieve four distinct targets, one being “a strong, viable, contemporary, and inclusive sports industry with high quality successful organisations driving economic and social benefits.” By examining programs and strategies that have come under Sport 2030, and analysing case studies such as the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, this paper serves to illuminate the way that a vehicle such as sport can be successful in achieving values such as inclusion. The assessment of strategy, statements and cases reveal that realising inclusion through sport and policy requires a strong narrative that has widespread societal support and broad investment. This analysis ultimately reasserts a central claim of the strategy, that “successful societies are inclusive societies,” where sport can be a driver of social cohesion and good policy.