Borja Garcia BA MA PhD
Lecturer
Contact details
Room: JJ.0.22
Phone: +44 (0)1509 226368
Fax: +44 (0)1509 226301
Email: B.Garcia-Garcia@lboro.ac.uk
Background
Dr. Borja García joined the School of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences in January 2009 as a Lecturer in Sport Management and Policy. He holds a PhD in Politics, International Relations and European Studies from Loughborough University (United Kingdom), where he completed his thesis titled ‘The European Union and the Governance of Football: A game of levels and agendas’. Prior to joining Loughborough, Dr. García graduated with an MA (‘very good’) in European Political and Administrative Studies at the College of Europe (Bruges, Belgium) and he also completed a MA (‘with merit’) in European Politics at the University of Leeds (United Kingdom). In both cases he undertook research on the European Union’s sports policy for his masters dissertations.
A graduate in media studies (Complutense University, Madrid, Spain), Dr. García worked full time in different national media (including radio and newspapers) for five years before joining the European Parliament’s Madrid office during the 2002 Spanish presidency of the EU. As a result of his academic work, Dr. García has advised members of the European Parliament, UEFA or the English FA in matters relating to the European Union’s sports policy. Borja García is a founding member of the Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union.
Research Interests
Dr. Borja García’s research interests embrace mainly two main fields. The first is the origin and development of the European Union’s sports policy, which he has researched using a theoretical approach based on agenda-setting and multilevel governance models. Dr. García is interested in exploring the agenda-setting dynamics of EU policy making (very much unexplored to date) through the case of sports policy. In this respect he has already published articles in peer-reviewed journals.
A parallel interest in this area is the role played by sports organisations (mainly governing bodies) in shaping that EU sports policy and adapting to co-operate with the EU. Dr. García is currently involved in a collective project that researches the transformation of professional football in ten different European countries as result of the policies of the EU.
The second research interest would be broadly defined as the governance of sport. This is defined as both systemic governance structures and principles of good governance. In this area Dr. García is interested in finding out about the nature of the relations between governmental and non-governmental actors in sports governance, especially at the supranational level with a focus on the case of football and the roles of UEFA and EU institutions.
He is also interested in finding concrete ways to measure governance or democratic standards in sports governing bodies in order to be able to carry ‘democratic audits’ of these bodies that could inform their future management and strategic plans.
Selected Publications
García, Borja (2009) ‘The new governance of sport: What role for the EU’, in R. Parrish, S. Gardiner, and R. Siekmann (eds.) EU, Sport, Law and Policy: Regulation, Re-regulation and Representation (The Hague: TMC Asser Press), pp. 115-136.
García, Borja (2009, forthcoming) ‘Sport governance after the white paper: The demise of the European model?’, International Journal of Sport Policy, vol. 1, no. 3
García, Borja (2007) ‘UEFA and the European Union, from confrontation to co-operation?’ Journal of Contemporary European Research, vol. 3, n. 3, pp. 202-223.
García, Borja (2007) ‘From regulation to governance and representation: agenda-setting and the EU’s involvement in sport’, Entertainment and Sports Law Journal, vol. 5, n. 1.
García Borja (2006) ‘The Independent European Sport Review: Half full or half empty?’, Entertainment and Sports Law Journal, vol. 4, n. 3, http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/law/elj/eslj/issues/volume4/number3/garcia/.
You can view a fuller publications list on the University Publications Database.
External Activities
Editorial board Member: Sport
& EU Review
Advisor to members of the European Parliament, UEFA and the Norwegian Football
Association.
Founding member and executive director of the Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union (Sport & EU, www.sportandeu.com)
Selected Invited Conference Keynote and
Speaker Presentations
‘The Governance of European Sport’, as part of the symposium ‘Representing
Sport: Europe, Tradition and Modernity’, National University of Ireland, Galway
(Ireland), 2-3 June 2009.
‘Inside UEFA: The Governance of European Football’, guest lecture invited by the Centre of Sports Law Research, Edge Hill University, Liverpool 12 March 2009.
‘UEFA and the European Union, a game of two halves’, in the Business of Sport Seminar Series, Birbeck Sport Business Centre, London 4 February 2009.
Selected Recent Research Projects and
Sources of Funding
‘A catalogue of national anti-doping legislation’ (with Barrie Houlihan).
Funded by WADA and UNESCO. £11000