148 research outputs found
The 1970 British Commonwealth Games: Scottish reactions to apartheid and sporting boycotts
Abstract
The 1970 British Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh is widely thought to have been a barnstorming success and an excellent advertisement for Scotland. Recent research by the authors, however, shows that the event was a deeply politicized one: reflective of Scotlandâs status as a âstateless nation,â of Westminster politics during the era more generally, and of the politics surrounding apartheid South Africaâs sporting contacts with the outside world. The games managed to avert a mass boycott organized by the South African Non-Racial Olympic Committee (SANROC), in retaliation for the Marylebone Cricket Clubâs recent invitation of the South African national cricket team. This article will explore Scotlandâs place as a nonstate actor within the 1970 crisis. Attention will be given to the domestic political response from Scottish members of Parliament, members of local Scottish councils (particularly within Edinburgh itself), and Scottish National Party (SNP) activists, angered that Scotland should pay for the crimes perceived to be made by an English sporting body. However, our piece goes beyond these discourses, to examine the broader sporting relationship that Scots had with South Africa and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), governed by white supremacist regimes during the period. Policy documents, housed in the National Records of Scotland, express UK Cabinet-level concerns about the actions of individual sporting clubsâ tours of the countries. This article will also look at how cabinet ministers, most notably Labourâs Minister for Sport Denis Howell, intervened to shape Scotlandâs devolved sporting councilsâ policies on contacts with South Africa and Rhodesia.</jats:p
'Come Alive in '85':The Isle of Man Year of Sport, the first Island Games, and the shifting sands of sport event tourism
âFrae Land oâ Lakes to land oâ Cakesâ:Curling, Scotland, Sweden, and historical undercurrents
The Falkland Islands, international sporting competition, and evolving (post-Brexit) paradiplomacy
This article examines the Falkland Islandsâ participation in international sport. Argentinean opposition has frustrated the Falklandsâ attempts to join bodies such as the IOC and FIFA, but the Islands themselves are nevertheless participants in the Commonwealth Games, Island Games, and other tournaments. First, this article discusses how sport reflects changes in post-1982 Falklands society. It also examines challenges related to personnel and logistics. Next, it interrogates why the Falklands participate in tournaments, including asserting âBritishnessâ and sovereignty. Finally, this article discusses prospects for new facilities, the likelihood of hosting an Island Games, and Pan-American competition. These developments are driven largely by Falkland Islanders themselves. Aside from the purported health and social benefits of sport, in the era of âBrexitâ they represent a means through which paradiplomacy is performed.peer-reviewe
Climbing Dumbarton Rock:An exploration of climbersâ experiences on sport and heritage from the perspective of existential authenticity
'That little sugarloaf Island':Ailsa Craig, romance, reality and the branding of scottish sport and leisure, 1707-2013
Processes and mechanisms of coastal woody-plant mortality
Observations of woody plant mortality in coastal ecosystems are globally widespread, but the overarching processes and underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. This knowledge deficiency, combined with rapidly changing water levels, storm surges, atmospheric CO2, and vapor pressure deficit, creates large predictive uncertainty regarding how coastal ecosystems will respond to global change. Here, we synthesize the literature on the mechanisms that underlie coastal woody-plant mortality, with the goal of producing a testable hypothesis framework. The key emergent mechanisms underlying mortality include hypoxic, osmotic, and ionic-driven reductions in whole-plant hydraulic conductance and photosynthesis that ultimately drive the coupled processes of hydraulic failure and carbon starvation. The relative importance of these processes in driving mortality, their order of progression, and their degree of coupling depends on the characteristics of the anomalous water exposure, on topographic effects, and on taxa-specific variation in traits and trait acclimation. Greater inundation exposure could accelerate mortality globally; however, the interaction of changing inundation exposure with elevated CO2, drought, and rising vapor pressure deficit could influence mortality likelihood. Models of coastal forests that incorporate the frequency and duration of inundation, the role of climatic drivers, and the processes of hydraulic failure and carbon starvation can yield improved estimates of inundation-induced woody-plant mortality
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