Legitimating the fight? Questions about cross-cultural perspectives on anti-doping strategies in the Pacific

The fight against doping in sport requires support from governments, sporting organizations, athletes, athlete support personnel and the public. Crucial to this support is the perception that the anti-doping fight is a ‗good thing' to do and that anti-doping polices are perceived to be legitimate. Problematically for the fight there is a growing crisis of legitimacy. Doping rules and processes are continually challenged, sporting organizations, athletes and even some countries only partially buy into the anti-doping message, resources are sparse and cultural differences ignored. Further, criticisms of the value of anti-doping regulations take aim at the manner in which the anti-doping fight is undertaken. Here, we outline our theoretical basis within a World Anti-Doping Agency funded research project to investigate cross-cultural perceptions of the legitimacy of anti-doping regulation. This research empirically examines how various actors perceive the anti-doping framework with the aim of understanding factors that build positive (or negative) perceptions of the legitimacy of anti-doping policies or procedures. We use Braithwaite's (2003) work around motivations for compliance or avoidance of regulation to frame our approach and to generate an in-depth understanding of stakeholders' views regarding the legitimacy of the anti-doping ―fight.