Seeking invention: creating an informed citizenry in the governance of security at sporting mega-events

Abstract

ABSTRACT There exists a small cottage industry of case studies of mega-sporting event security at respective Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games or FIFA World Cups. This literature provides detailed accounts of the different security governance networks and methods of securitisation taken by host cities and the social impacts of such arrangements. However, for all this explanatory work, there have been no attempts to provide any innovative normative framework for how mega-event security should be conducted. Taking a case study of Glasgow’s security operation during the 2014 Commonwealth Games, the article firstly maps the ‘nodal’ arrangement that existed during the Games, before identifying the various limitations within this particular approach. It makes a theoretical contribution to the existing body of security governance literature by demonstrating the empirical complexities of achieving nodal governance in a particular situation. The article concludes by providing a practical contribution to policing scholarship by suggesting an innovative normative security governance framework based around the metaphor of ‘control hubs’. Central to this innovation is the inclusion of a community ‘node’ into the governance of security as a way of enhancing information sharing and deliberation.