Globalisation and the Governance of Leisure: The Roles of the Nation-State, the European Union and the City in Leisure Policy in Britain

Abstract

This paper argues that the impact of globalisation and of new forms of governance has shifted the centre of gravity of contemporary leisure policy significantly from the nation-state towards the sub- and supra-national levels of government and to the commercial and voluntary sectors. The paper identifies five sets of issues associated with globalisation and governance which are of major significance for understanding contemporary leisure policy: (a) the growth of neo-liberal ideology and the “hollowing out of the state”; (b) the restructuring of the welfare state and the growth of new public managerialism; (c) issues of national and European identity; (d) the principle of horizontal and vertical subsidiarity; (e) the development of urban entrepreneurialism. For each of these, the paper illustrates with reference to the British city, the British state, and the European Union, how the role of the nation-state has been modified or diminished. The paper thus argues that analysis of leisure policy in the contemporary context must go beyond a review of the policies of the nation-state.