Page 36 - THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE’S ACCOUNTABILITY FOR HARMFUL CONSEQUENCES OF THE OLYMPIC GAMES- A MULTI-METHOD INTERNATIONAL LEGAL ANALYSIS Ryan Gautier

Chapter Two – Global Governance and Legitimacy
Using global administrative law may also provide insights into how the IOC might ‘modernise’. The IOC was created in the late nineteenth century, and resembled many other international actors at the time. These actors often espoused broad norms of social improvement, were decentralised in nature, and were composed of members of the ‘leisured class’.10 Many of these vestiges can still be seen in the IOC today, from the values in the Olympic Charter, to the decentralised structure of the Olympic Movement, to the volunteer nature of the IOC Session members. The IOC began to professionalize not only the athletes who participated in the Olympics, but also their own operations, only in the wake of the 1984 Olympics, as a response to the commercialization of the Games.11 This stands in contrast to IOs, and more modern global governance actors, which take a ‘functionalist’ approach, and more closely resemble modern administrative states. In this sense, the IOC can be seen as an actor that is ‘out-of-time’.
Global administrative law is not without its critics. A primary critique of GAL is that it focuses too narrowly on procedural law, leaving substantive law to the side.12 Critics using this line of reasoning argue that it is folly to expect an institution to produce progressive outcomes in regards to human rights and similar issues without a strong, already-existing culture that views this mission as valuable.13 Indeed, it is possible that even with strong procedural mechanisms, the substantive impacts of institutional outcomes could be deleterious to individuals. However, the same can be said for the reverse situation. An environment where substantive rights are present, but procedural rights are absent, is one where individuals may or may not be able to assert those rights. Procedure and
10 Dan Bousfield and Jean Michel Montison, ‘Transforming an International Organization: Norm Confusion and the International Olympic Committee’ (2012) 15 Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics 823, 825– 26; John Hoberman, ‘Toward a Theory of Olympic Internationalism’ (1995) 22 Journal of Sport History 1.
11 Andrew Zimbalist, Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup (Kindle edn, Brookings Institution Press 2015) ch 2, loc 408. See also Michael Payne, Olympic Turnaround: How the Olympic Games Stepped Back from the Brink of Extinction to Become the World’s Best Known Brand (Praeger 2006). For a critique of Payne’s book, see Rusty Wilson, ‘Book Review: Payne, Michael, Olympic Turnaround: How the Olympic Games Stepped Back from the Brink of Extinction to Become the World’s Best Known Brand’ (2005) 32 Journal of Sport History 426.
12 Benedict Kingsbury, Nico Krisch and Richard B. Stewart, ‘The Emergence of Global Administrative Law’ (2005) 68 Law and Contemporary Problems 15, 29.
13 B.S. Chimni, ‘Co-Option and Resistance: Two Faces of Global Administrative Law’ (2005) 37 International Law and Politics, 799, 801.
26