A contract reconsidered? Changes in the Swedish state’s relation to the sports movement

This article concerns the relation between the state and the sports movement in Sweden. First, a theoretical model is presented for understanding and analysing the relation of the state to voluntarily organized sport. This model takes its starting point in administrative studies and modern political philosophy. Thereafter follows a general description of state support to sports in Sweden in the twentieth century. In this section the concept of an ‘implicit contract’ is used to show how the incompatible interests of the state and the sports movement have been solved in practice within the framework of Swedish welfare politics. The article ends with a discussion on whether current changes in government sport policy may lead to a reconsideration of the implicit contract between the state and the sports movement