Sport, Terrorism, National Security, and the ‘Deep State’: Components of a Longitudinal Research Programme.

This chapter represents the first step in the design of a longitudinal research programme that seeks to critically explain the changing relationship between the ‘national security’ arm of the state, and sport, specifically the governance of sport, participation in sport and spectating at sports events. It can be observed that both the apparatus of the state and the ‘deep state’ have expanded rapidly, with consequences for sport, post the events of September 11th, 2001 in the USA and the London bombings of July 7th, 2005. The ‘deep state’ is defined as components of the state not normally accessible to public scrutiny due to issues of ‘national security’. Whilst drawing on critical sociology and political science, this chapter argues that literature pertaining to the ‘deep state’ could also illuminate the relationship between the state and sport in a national security context framed by the ‘war on terror’. The author identifies a provisional framework for undertaking research in this domain including a number of key themes or ‘lines of enquiry’.