SPORT AS AN OBJECT AND SUBJECT OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION IN MODERN RUSSIA

Abstract

Recently, Russia has been showing increased attention to sports as a political tool. The country is striving to obtain the status of a ‘sports power’, hosting the most prestigious world-class competitions. The political impact on sports’ progress remains significant, as politics evidently "absorbs" traditional athletic habitat, using sport occasions as an instrument of influence. The significance of sports in political communication is becoming wider. A situation arises in which sport ceases to act as a sole object of politics, falling into the category of ‘means’ or ‘subject’, while representatives of the sports community become full participants in the political process in modern Russia. The article regards political aspects of sports and urges to trace its role within the framework of political communication. The authors develop the concept of ‘sports politics’, separating it from sports policy per se, or state policy within sports. Based on two models of political communication by G. Lassawel and T. Newcomb, principal forms of relationship between politics and sports in the matrix of communication are highlighted: an object, an instrument, a subject, and a communication channel. As a political tool, sport has been interpreted as a means of communication using the concept of the national idea of Russia. The rhetoric of top officials related to sports demonstrates its symbolic roots, based in patriotism. When considering sport as a subject of politics, the main attention is focused on sports personae and their representation in government bodies, governing structures - as proxies and opinion leaders, or invited experts. The research also considers biographies of sport leaders as their personal and professional "background", as well as their formal and informal interaction with decision-makers. The article concludes that, despite the intensification and growth of sports’ potential to its subjectivity, the key interaction model remains the one where it takes the place of a communication mechanism.