WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency: A Multi-Level Legitimacy Analysis

Examining the legitimacy of the World Anti-Doping Agency, this book offers a critical analysis of the anti-doping system and the social and behavioural processes that shape policy, asking why the current system is failing.

Featuring in-depth, contemporary case studies from around the world, including the whereabouts system; Lance Armstrong; therapeutic use exemptions; the Essendon Bombers; recreational drugs policy; and the Russian Olympic doping programme, this is the first text to analyse empirically how the legitimacy of WADA is constructed, contested and managed in the field of anti-doping, and the consequent impact this has on anti-doping. Based on the analysis of these case studies, the book discusses how legitimacy processes have shaped the current regulatory environment and offers structural and governance reforms to improve anti-doping policy design and implementation.

Adopting a unique theoretical perspective, rooted in a socio-cognitive perspective on organisational behaviour, this book is essential reading for any researcher or student working on drugs and doping in sport, sport management, the sociology of sport, governance, transnational organisations or strategic management. It also offers important insights for policymakers and administrators working in sport or in government.

Daniel Read is Lecturer in Sport Business at the Institute for Sport Business, Loughborough University London, United Kingdom.

James Skinner is Professor in Sport Business at the Institute for Sport Business, Loughborough University London, United Kingdom.

Daniel Lock is Principal Academic in the Department of Sport and Event Management, Bournemouth University, United Kingdom.

Aaron Smith is Professor in Sport Business at the Institute for Sport Business, Loughborough University London, United Kingdom.