SPORTS AND (SMALL) POLITICS IN THE CAPITAL OF BRAZIL

Abstract

This work brings as the object of investigation the sports policy of the Federal District, the region in which is located the city of Brasilia, the capital of Brazil, administrative and political headquarters of the federal government. It is presented as a hypothesis that, despite sport being provided for in the conception of Brasilia and the favourable material conditions, the democratization of access to sports practice and its materialization as a citizenship right are not achieved in face of the hegemony of the small politics in this sector. Given this assumption, it is adopted as the central objective to analyse the organisational structure and management of the sports policy of the Federal District between the years 1999 and 2019. The methodological outline of the research was characterized by a qualitative approach of exploratory nature, based on the technique of documentary research of primary sources, with emphasis on the search for the district sports legislation. It was possible to identify that the apparent trend of continuity of the district sports policy is circumscribed to meet the party-political cronyism and the interests of ensuring governability that permeate the formation of multi-party coalitions and the relationship between the local Executive and Legislative. In this scenario, the strong influence of professional football and religious segments in the occupation of the sports management body stands out. On the other hand, actions of civil society sectors to implement a democratic management and a programmatic perspective for the consolidation of sport as an object of a State policy are neglected. We conclude, therefore, that the hegemony of the small politics compromises the materialization of sport as a citizenship right to reverse the inequalities of access as a consequence of the region’s strong socio-economic inequality.