My Abstract for PTG 2013

I just submitted a paper proposal for Play the Game 2013, to be held later this year in Aarhus, Denmark. Here is the call for papers.

Here is my abstract:

An Evaluation of the FIFA Reform Process
Roger Pielke, Jr.
University of Colorado

Following years of allegations of corruption and cronyism, in 2011 FIFA embarked upon an ambitious program of governance reform. The process was championed by the organization’s President, Sepp Blatter, and centered on the creation of a new body, the FIFA Independent Governance Committee. This paper evaluates the FIFA reform effort rigorously, drawing upon the well-developed academic literature on policy evaluation, which has been extensively applied to the appraisal of organizations in the public, private and non-profit sectors. A formal evaluation consists logically of four distinct parts: goals to be achieved, metrics of attainment with respect to goals, data with respect to the metrics and finally, judgments of responsibility for successes and shortfalls with respect to goal attainment. This paper conducts a two-part evaluation of the FIFA reform process as implemented from 2011-2013. A first evaluative perspective considers the overall reform effort according to three different sets of objective criteria. These criteria are drawn from internal recommendations produced by FIFA and its IGC, with a third set of criteria distilled from recommendations for FIFA governance reform put forward by Transparency International, an external governance watchdog. A second evaluative perspective focuses on the performance of the FIFA IGC as an advisory body, applying more general criteria distilled from appraisals of advisory bodies across policy settings. The paper concludes with a comprehensive summary “report card” on the FIFA reform effort and its IGC, and presents broader recommendations for governance reform efforts in sports organizations drawn from the FIFA reform experience.

Comments welcomed!