The Institutional Governance of Global Hybrid Bodies: The Case of the World Anti-Doping Agency

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the functioning of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), an organisation that is coordinated by national governments and private sporting organisations to fight doping in sport. Drawing on official WADA documents and one of the authors’ first-hand knowledge of WADA’s workings, we begin by presenting the agency’s objectives, its joint Olympic Movement-public authorities governance structure, its stakeholders and its more important procedures. WADA is currently facing a number of challenges it must overcome if it is to ensure effective cooperation between governments and the sports movement and continue leading the fight against doping. We next briefly examine these challenges, which affect four main issues: athlete testing, compliancy by anti-doping stakeholders, governance structures and the agency funding. We conclude our analysis by suggesting possible ways of addressing these issues, drawn up in light of semi-directive interviews carried out in September 2016 with two senior representatives of WADA, two UNESCO representatives responsible for cooperation with WADA and two experts in national and international doping legislation. These data were complemented by discussions with stakeholders attending the three-day symposium held by WADA in Lausanne in March 2017. The conclusion stresses the need for WADA to restore public and government confidence in its work, 17 years after it was created.

Citation

Chappelet, J.-L. and van Luijk, N. (2018), "The Institutional Governance of Global Hybrid Bodies: The Case of the World Anti-Doping Agency", Hybridity in the Governance and Delivery of Public Services (Studies in Public and Non-Profit Governance, Vol. 7), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 167-191. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2051-663020180000007005