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Mixing Sports And Politics: How Totalitarian Regimes Used Sports To Achieve The Goals Of The State, Caroline Phillips
Mixing Sports And Politics: How Totalitarian Regimes Used Sports To Achieve The Goals Of The State, Caroline Phillips
CMC Senior Theses
This paper explores how sports were used by totalitarian regimes to achieve the goals of the state. The three case studies involve the totalitarian governments of interwar Europe: Italian Fascism, German Nazism, and Spanish Francoism. Three main trends were identified. Sports were used to improve their nation’s health and fitness for military preparation, construct a national identity, and as a diplomatic tool to improve their international reputation. I also explore what ideological themes lent themselves to construction of these three specific goals.