Amerykańsko-radzieckie wymiany koszykarskie jako przypadek z pogranicza pozytywnej i negatywnej dyplomacji sportowej

Abstract

The aim of the article is to investigate basketball exchanges between United States and Soviet Union from the perspective of sports diplomacy. The research is directed at determining its significance in affecting political relation between the two states. In the article, an attempt to answer three research questions was made. The first one is whether USA–USSR basketball diplomacy served only the rapprochement between the countries, or at the same time to use sports victories in order to prove their superiority, combining positive and negative sports diplomacy. The other research questions are: were the exchanges particularly in basketball appropriate concerning its diplomatic purpose, and whether basketball diplomacy was reflecting or creating the state of Soviet–American relations.