Politics has been an integral part of Korean football since the Japanese colonial era when the game became a vehicle for the Korean independence movement. The split between North and South Korea following the Korean War further accentuated the intrusion of politics into the domain of Korean football. As Koreans residing on either side of the border followed the game with intense interest and often regarded performance in international competition as a signifier of national prestige, the governments of both North and South Korea attached more importance to football than to any other sport and became its foremost patrons. In these circumstances it is not surprising to find that the relative performance of the national teams of North and South Korea mirrored changing economic and political conditions. Thus the rapid rise of North Korean football in the 1960s was a reflection of the state’s systematic and successful postwar reconstruction. Since the 1980s, however, South Korea, with its booming economy, has clearly surpassed its increasingly impoverished northern counterparts in the football field. Undoubtedly, the most two important events pertaining to the development of Korean football were the 1966 and 2002 World Cups. They provided occasions when nationalist sentiment could be expressed through football in both North and South Korea. They also provided opportunities for Korean footballers, through their achievements on the field, to show that the gap between the traditional periphery and core of world football was narrowing. At the same time, participation in competition at this level, whether by teams from North or South Korea, suggested that there was a recognizable and distinctive Korean football style nurtured in training camps where the emphasis was on producing players with sufficient stamina to run at their opponents for ninety minutes. Tireless running football has been the characteristic of successful teams from both North and South Korea. Thus, while recognizing the profound ideological differences that separate North and South Korea, this thesis also emphasizes the football tradition and culture that ethnically homogenous Koreans have in common.

The aim of this thesis is to provide a theoretically informed account of the decision-making process in mega sports events policy in Marseille. This is intended to allow an evaluation of the major theoretical frameworks developed in the Anglo-Saxon literature on urban governance and their applicability to the French local government context, and more specifically to the context of sports policy in Marseille. Following an analysis of the development of the local political culture of Marseille, the thesis undertakes a review of theoretical frameworks developed in the urban policy literature identifying three major approaches / concepts which have dominated Anglo-Saxon literature, namely the growth coalition (Logan and Molotch 1987), policy network (Rhodes 1981; 1988), and urban regime (Stone 1989) approaches. These theoretical frameworks have been little used in French urban policy literature (Le Gales 1995; 2003) and feature rarely, if at all, in French sports policy literature. In reviewing this literature the thesis identifies a set of indicators, which may be used in empirical contexts to differentiate growth coalitions from policy networks and urban regimes. A major question for the research is thus to what extent Anglo-Saxon theoretical frameworks / concepts can be usefully employed to understand French decision-making and that of Marseille in particular. Subscribing to critical realism, the thesis aims to give an account of the mega sport event phenomena in Marseille, and of the actors' understanding and interpretation (in effect their social construction) of the phenomena. The data collected were documents for the period 1991 - 2003 from official sources (minutes and proceedings of local government and event-related bodies, reports, political speeches, and local government publications), local press coverage, and interviewees conducted with the major decision-makers. An ethnographic content analysis was made, partly employing a deductive approach based on the set of common indicators developed from the review of urban policy, and partly inductively from themes, which emerged in the analysis (Altheide 1996). The thesis concludes that while there is some evidence of the development of policy networks the specificity of the French context, and that of Marseille, with its heavily state-led approach to policy, means that the use of urban regime, and still less of growth coalition approaches, is not warranted by the evidence.

From the very beginning, there were negative reactions when Qatar and Russia were chosento host a FIFA World Cup each. The criticism against both World Cups grew over time,thanks in no small part due to how migrant workers building the stadiums in both countrieswere treated. The purpose of this thesis has been to examine whether or not Edward Said'stheory of postcolonialism and Imannuel Wallerstein's theory on civilization in eurocentrismhave played a part in how the Swedish media chose to cover both World Cups. In this thesis,the two biggest newspapers in Sweden, “Aftonbladet” and “Dagens Nyheter” were used inthe analysis. The method used was a comparative case study, in which articles and quotesregarding Qatar and Russia were compared and then analyzed. The analysis revealed that,although these theories and stereotypes could have played a role in how the Swedish mediareported on the World Cups, the results were inconclusive, meaning that no conclusion onwhether postcolonial or eurocentric stereotypes played a role in the media coverage could beconfirmed.

Cette étude porte sur l’analyse des impacts sociaux de la Coupe du monde de football FIFA 2014 au Brésil, pays émergent, spécifiquement dans quatre villes d’accueil : Manaus, Recife, Rio de Janeiro et Belo Horizonte. La démarche, s’appuyant sur les principes de la recherche qualitative, cherche à comprendre les processus de décision des organisateurs de l’événement – tant au niveau national que local – et la mise en place des politiques publiques liées aux groupes sociaux défavorisés du pays. Il s’agit d’analyser à la fois l’importance donnée par les responsables aux questions socio-économiques et le rôle joué par les habitants dans l’accueil de l’événement.Le corpus rassemble 63 entretiens [50 acteurs interviewés], 48 séquences d’observation, 87 photographies et des documents publiés [dossiers officiels, articles de journaux, sites officiels, rapports administratifs]. La recherche de terrain a été réalisée entre les années 2013 et 2015 de sorte à observer la préparation de l’événement et les impacts à moyen terme.En analysant les politiques publiques adoptées, la recherche a montré un manque de dialogue entre les organisateurs et la population locale, notamment les groupes sociaux défavorisés, en ce qui concerne les processus de décision et les héritages réels à court et à moyen termes. En général, les responsables ont mis en valeur les aspects tangibles – travaux urbains et nouvelles arènes – au détriment des changements socio-sportifs majeurs. En revanche, les habitants locaux ont joué un rôle crucial dans la réussite de la Coupe du monde au travers de leur accueil des visiteurs et de leur manière singulière de fêter le football. En outre, compte tenu des manifestations survenues en 2013 et 2014, un nouveau mouvement d’opposition aux grands événements sportifs a vu le jour mettant à l’épreuve les aspects économiques soulignés par les institutions organisatrices. / This research focuses on the analysis of social impacts related to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, an emerging country, specifically in four host cities : Manaus, Recife, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. This approach, based on the principles of qualitative research, seeks to understand the decision process of event organizers – on local and international levels – and the implementation of public policies targeting disadvantaged social groups in the country. This research aims to analyze both the level of consideration given to social issues by the event’s organizing committee; as well as the role played by the host cities’ residents in the reception of visitors.The corpus brings together 63 interviews [50 actors interviewed], 48 observation grids, 87 photographs and published documents [official records, newspapers articles, official websites, business reports]. Field research was carried out between 2013 and 2015 in order to observe the preparation of the event and the medium-term impacts.By analysing public policies, the research showed a lack of dialogue between the organizers and the local population, especially the deprived social groups, regarding the decision process and the real legacies in the short and medium terms. In general, officials have highlighted the tangibles aspects – urban projects and new arenas – at the expense of major social and sporting changes. Conversely, local residents have played a crucial role in the success of the 2014 World Cup through their visitor reception and unique way of celebrating football. Furthermore, given the events that occurred in 2013 and 2014, a new opposition movement against mega sport events was established - challenging the economic aspects highlighted by the organizing institutions.