The International Olympic Committee: a Name for Eternity?

Abstract

Although the International Olympic Committee is a INGO specialized on organising the Olympic Games, it has had an increasing influence in the international system ever since its foundation in 1894. Its founder Baron de Coubertin included among its objectives two which had a very obvious political significance. One was the strengthening of friendship amongst people from all over the world through the practice of sport, and another was the pledge to end all wars by means of an olympiic truce which would take place during the celebration of the Games. With those objectives in mind the IOC was set up as an international body independent of governments, but requiring their goodwill. The IOC has been subject to criticism for it may not have accomplished its originary goals, but its political role in the international arena has been manifest. After the first world war the activities of the IOC and especially the Olympic Games showed the states how sport could be used as a way to foster international recognition or prestige. The end of the colonial empires after the second world war continued this tendency. In the years of the cold war the IOC helped ease tensions between the two blocks. In all cases, including the present international situation, the IOC, though a NGO itself, has nevertheless reinforced the role of the state as the main actor of the international system.