The forthcoming Olympics in Rio in 2016, and the FIFA World Cup in Brazil in 2014, highlight the profound importance of sport in Latin America. This book is the first to offer a broad survey of the way that sport is managed, governed and organized across the Latin American region, drawing on cutting-edge contemporary scholarship in management, policy, sociology and history. The book explores key themes in Latin American sport, including the role of public institutions; the relationship between sport policy and political regimes; the structure and significance of national governing bodies and professional leagues; the impact of sporting mega-events (including the Olympics and World Cup), and the management and governance of football, the dominant sport in the region. Including contributions from Latin American scholars and practitioners, the book draws on important Spanish and Portuguese sources that are unknown to most English-speaking researchers, and therefore provides an unprecedented and authoritative insight into sport policy and management in the region. Including cases from sport in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica and Peru and examples from Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador, this book is essential reading for all scholars, practitioners and policy-makers with an interest in Latin American sport, comparative sport policy, sport management, or Latin American history, culture and society.

This volume surveys the interplay between state and non-state actors in Latin American foreign policies and attitudes towards the Middle East in the twenty-first century. How will domestic instability and international tensions affect the choices and behavior of Latin American countries towards the Arab world? The chapters here offer insight into this and similar questions, as well as a comparative value in analyzing countries beyond those specifically discussed. Common topics in policy making are considered–namely, Israel and Palestine, Iran, the Gulf countries, and the Arab "Spring”–as authors from distinct disciplines examine the crucial relation between ends and means on the one hand, and foreign policy actions and context on the other.