The Olympic System: Toward a Geopolitical Approach

XVI •

 Pascal Gillon

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° 680 • 2011

this definition.

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 How many countries are required to constitute an interna-

tional community? Is the UN the representative organization of the international  

community, and is its recognition necessary? The recent case of Kosovo illus-

trates this difficulty. Declared independent by its Parliament on February 17, 

2008, while it was a part of Serbia and governed by international forces, Kosovo 

was recognized in 2011 by 76 countries but not by Russia, China, or India. 

Kosovo has not been recognized by the UN because its independence contradicts 

Resolution 1244, which stipulates territorial autonomy but without violating the 

territorial integrity of Serbia . . . But this became an issue for the IOC because 

Kosovo applied for recognition as soon as it declared its independence.

Since the second half of the twentieth century, political changes and their 

territorial manifestations have required the IOC to clarify its recognition policy 

little by little. However, the sports movement maintains a geography all its own 

as evidenced by the “anomalies” of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and a number of more 

or less independent territories (particularly in the Caribbean and Pacific). The 

majority of these are due to history and the strong differences in states’ notions 

of sovereignty and how it is exercised.