scholarly journals Top Bins: An Exploration of Qatar’s Use of Sport and Capital to Strengthen Diplomatic Visibility

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 271-278
Author(s):  
Anay Katyal
Keyword(s):  
Working Class ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Communication Technologies ◽  
Global Competition ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Cultural Industries ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Fifa World Cup ◽  
Sporting Culture ◽  
New Frontier

Globalization has given new life to previously benign leisures and vices, allowing states and their respective cultural industries to export (and import) their agenda and visibility. Cultural industries have long played an important role in exercising soft power, and the advent of new communication technologies and newfound spending power amongst the world’s working class has only strengthened and opened opportunities on this front. Sports, particularly ones that translate well to global competition, have become a new frontier for states to leverage assets and wealth to construct more prominent messaging surrounding their larger diplomatic work around the globe. By examining Qatari investment in football, track & field, and other international sports — especially through vehicles like the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Qatar Investment Authority, Aspire Academy, Paris Saint-Germain, etc. — we are offered a clear understanding as to how Qatar uses its wealth to exploit the global cultural marketplace and entrench itself as an important component of global sporting culture, and the diplomatic utility they aim to reap with such investments. Keywords: Qatar, FIFA, diplomacy, football, capital

South Africa’s Engagement in Sports Diplomacy: The Successful Hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 197-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreia Soares e Castro
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
South African ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
African Continent ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Fifa World Cup ◽  
Mega Events ◽  
Sports Diplomacy ◽  
Policy Goals

Summary This article begins by recognizing the importance of sport in South African history, before turning to South Africa’s vision and strategy, as articulated around and beyond the successful hosting of mega-events, particularly the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the first World Cup to be held on the African continent. The article suggests that mega-events are an important stage and priority of a broader and longer-term strategy of enhancing South Africa’s soft power, prestige and visibility. In this context, sport and mega-events are important foreign policy tools and have greatly benefited South Africa, the African continent and the international relations system. Using South Africa as a case study, this article explores the concept of sports diplomacy — that is, the use of sports as an instrument for furthering foreign policy goals, causes or interests — and argues that it is a significant and a rising source of soft power.

scholarly journals ‘Russia isn’t a country of Putins!’: How RT bridged the credibility gap in Russian public diplomacy during the 2018 FIFA World Cup

2021 ◽  
pp. 136914812110137
Author(s):  
Rhys Crilley ◽  
Marie Gillespie ◽  
Vitaly Kazakov ◽  
Alistair Willis
Keyword(s):  
Soft Power ◽  
Public Diplomacy ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Fifa World Cup ◽  
Focus Group Research ◽  
Group Research ◽  
Russian State ◽  
International Reputation ◽  
Power Effect ◽  
Credibility Gap

In the context of deteriorating relations with ‘Western’ states, Russia’s state-funded international broadcasters are often understood as malign propaganda rather than as agents of soft power. Subsequently, there is a major credibility gap between how Russian state media represents itself to the world and how it is actually perceived by overseas publics. However, based on the study of RT’s coverage of the Russian hosted FIFA 2018 World Cup and the audience reactions this prompted, we find that this credibility gap was partially bridged. By analysing over 700 articles published by RT, alongside social media and focus group research, we find that RT’s World Cup coverage created an unusually positive vision of Russia that appealed to international audiences. Our study demonstrates how state-funded international broadcaster coverage of sports mega-events can generate a soft power effect with audiences, even when the host state – such as Russia – has a poor international reputation.

scholarly journals Sport and International Relations: Qatari Soft Power and Foreign Policy Making

تجسير ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 145-170
Author(s):  
Noof Al-Dosari
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Fifa World Cup ◽  
Sports Diplomacy ◽  
Sports Events ◽  
Policy Goals ◽  
Realist Analysis

Sport plays a significant role in politics and international relations. However, the relationship between soft power and hosting a sports mega-event such as the Olympic Games, or the FIFA world cup is unclear. Most literature that has examined the role of sport in Qatari soft power adheres to the Realist School of international relations theory. It has tended to emphasize the size of the country in understanding what motivates its engagement in sports diplomacy. This paper attempts to move beyond this realist analysis of soft power by drawing on the post-structuralist –interpretive approach and discourse theory. This perspective better accounts for how sports diplomacy is used in different cultural contexts. In arguing that Qatar represents particular cultural and historical traditions, and sports define the country’s distinct political identity, the paper looks at how Qatar has exercised soft power through sports diplomacy and hosting major international sports events. The paper will analyze formal state discourses surrounding Qatar’s decision to host FIFA World Cup 2022, and we discuss how this use of sports diplomacy is helping achieve several Qatari foreign policy goals.

Selecting the best team from the players in the 2018 FIFA World Cup using performance analysis

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-32
Author(s):  
Tugay Karadag ◽  
Coskun Parim ◽  
Erhan Cene
Keyword(s):  
Performance Analysis ◽  
Topsis Method ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Fifa World Cup ◽  
Performance Variables

This study aims to determine the best player in each position from among the footballers who played in the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Player statistics for those who played over 200 minutes were obtained from the FIFA official and transfermarkt.com websites. Selected performance variables were then calculated per 100 minutes and the results were normalised. Kruskal Wallis H and Bonferroni Tests were used to determine the weights of the variables before the analysis. As the variables will have different values according to the players’ positions, the weights for each position were calculated separately. Finally, the performances of the players on the basis of the variables used were ranked for each position using the TOPSIS method. A second analysis was undertaken including only those players whose ages were under 28 and goalkeepers whose ages were under 32. The purpose of this analysis was to identify players with potential that had been largely unrecognised up until the tournament. It was found that both the teams selected in this way were dominated by players from European clubs. Ninety-two percent of the top sixty players in the analysis were playing in European leagues with 85% playing in Spain, England, Italy, Germany, France or Russia.

scholarly journals Price discrimination in informal labor markets in Bogotá: an audit experiment during the 2018 FIFA World Cup

2021 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paula Zamora ◽  
César Mantilla ◽  
Mariana Blanco
Keyword(s):  
Labor Markets ◽  
Price Discrimination ◽  
Pricing Strategies ◽  
World Cup ◽  
Street Vendors ◽  
Fifa World Cup ◽  
Informal Labor ◽  
Seasonal Demand ◽  
Within Subjects ◽  
Gender Based

AbstractWe conducted an audit experiment to examine whether street vendors in Bogotá (Colombia) exert price discrimination based on buyers’ attributes, such as gender and nationality, and based on product characteristics, such as the increasing marginal valuation of items needed to complete a collection. We exploited the seasonal demand for album stickers related to the FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. In our within-subjects design, experimenters carried out in-person audits and quoted a pre-determined list of missing stickers. They interacted with 59 sticker vendors located in five geographic clusters and collected 287 vendor–buyer interactions. We find that prices quoted to foreign buyers are higher than prices quoted to Colombian buyers. By contrast, we do neither find evidence supporting direct gender-based discrimination, nor that vendors charge a higher price per sticker when the list of missing stickers is shorter. We complement the study with a qualitative analysis based on interviews that reveal vendors’ pricing strategies, their awareness of price discrimination, and the trade of counterfeits. The qualitative results suggest that price discrimination appears to be unconscious.

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