Strategies for the development of international sport diplomacy in the volleyball federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran

In recent years, Iran's volleyball sport has made significant progress and the Iranian national team has been able to compete in the World Volleyball League. This situation has provided the Iranian Volleyball Federation with diplomatic opportunities. The purpose of this study was to develop strategies for the development of international sport diplomacy in the volleyball federation of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This study was conducted qualitatively by interviewing Iranian volleyball officials (N = 4), academic experts in sport diplomacy (N = 4) and internationally experienced coaches and referees (N = 5). Data analysis with theme analysis techniques revealed that the five emerging themes included: challenges, principles of effective international sport diplomacy, international sport diplomacy success factors, international diplomacy development strategies in volleyball federation, and the implications of international sport diplomacy, including 18 sub-themes and 43 open codes. All these aspects are analyzed and discussed in the present study. En los últimos años, el deporte de voleibol ha logrado un progreso significativo en Irán y el equipo nacional iraní ha podido competir en la Liga Mundial de Voleibol. Esta situación ha brindado oportunidades diplomáticas a la Federación Iraní de Voleibol. El propósito de este estudio fue desarrollar estrategias para el desarrollo de la diplomacia deportiva internacional en la federación de voleibol de la República Islámica de Irán. Este estudio se realizó de forma cualitativa entrevistando a funcionarios de voleibol iraníes (N = 4), expertos académicos en diplomacia deportiva (N = 4) y entrenadores y árbitros con experiencia internacional (N = 5). El análisis de datos con técnicas de análisis temático reveló que los cinco temas emergentes incluían: desafíos, principios de la diplomacia deportiva internacional efectiva, factores de éxito de la diplomacia deportiva internacional, estrategias de desarrollo de la diplomacia internacional en la federación de voleibol y las implicaciones de la diplomacia deportiva internacional, incluyendo 18 subtemas y 43 códigos abiertos. Todos estos aspectos se analizan y discuten en el presente estudio.

Jimmy Carter and Human Rights in Latin America

Human rights was perhaps the defining feature of Jimmy Carter’s presidency. Although much attention was given at the time to its impact on US relations with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, Latin America was equally, if not more, important in defining and implementing Carter’s vision of a human rights foreign policy. Latin America was the site of some of the Carter administration’s most visible and concentrated human rights diplomacy, and revealed the central logic and persistent challenges of implementing a coherent, comprehensive human rights policy that worked in tandem with other US interests. Carter’s Latin America policy reimagined US national interests and paired human rights with greater respect for national sovereignty, challenging US patterns of intervention and alignment with right-wing anticommunist dictatorships throughout the Cold War. In the Southern Cone, the Carter administration’s efforts to distance the United States from repressive Cold War allies and foster improvements in human rights conditions provoked nationalist backlash from the military regimes, and faced domestic criticism about the economic and security costs of new human rights policies. Similarly, in Central America, the administration faced the challenge of reforming relations with abusive anticommunist allies in Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador without supporting communist revolution. Its tepid and cautious response to violence by the Central American governments called into question the Carter administration’s commitment to its human rights agenda. In Cuba, the Carter administration sought to advance human rights as part of a larger effort to normalize relations between the two countries, an effort that was ultimately stymied by both geopolitical dynamics and domestic politics. Although limited in the fundamental changes it could coax from foreign governments and societies, the administration’s policy had a tangible impact in specific high-profile human rights cases. In the long term, it helped legitimize human rights as part of international diplomacy in Latin America and beyond, amplifying the work of other government and nongovernment proponents of human rights.

Western Sahara's new envoy faces old challenges

Significance On October 6, the UN Secretary-General announced the appointment of a new personal envoy to the Western Sahara dispute, Staffan de Mistura, an Italian diplomat with a four-decade career in numerous hotspots, most recently Syria and Iraq. De Mistura takes on the post amid increased military hostilities between Western Saharan independence movement Polisario and Moroccan forces. Impacts Morocco and Polisario will use different kinds of international diplomacy to pursue their aims. Growing conflict in Western Sahara could have dangerous spillover effects that would draw in Algeria. Without a significant reduction in tensions in Western Sahara, an Algerian-Moroccan rapprochement is unlikely.

Nationalism and the Modernisation of Thai Architectural Education at Chulalongkorn University in the 1920s and 1930s

This paper examines the modernization of Thai architecture through the establishment of Thailand’s first architecture school, its curriculum, its architecture, and the pivotal role of the first generation of Thai architecture professors, who had been educated in England and France. It demonstrates how the establishment of the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, stemmed from the Siamese government’s growing nationalism that aimed to end foreign domination in both Siam’s construction industry and international diplomacy. The process, however, involved the adoption of a western curriculum — which was considered modern — and adapting it to be more Thai for nationalist purposes. This also required support by employing a foreign professor in architecture: Lucien Coppé, a Belgian architect who was responsible for both upgrading the school’s curriculum and the design of its first permanent building in 1938. Furthermore, some aspects of the western curriculum were not intended to be adapted but were hybridized due to the constraints of the modernizing nation. The establishment and construction of the Faculty of Architecture, Chulalongkorn University, are examples of how art, science, and education were intertwined in both national and global politics in the 1930s.

On Borders and Expansion: Egyptian Imperialism in the Levant during the Ramesside Period

This paper aims to define the way Egyptians perceived the boundaries of their land and reassesses the impact of Egyptian colonialism during the Ramesside period (c. 1292–1069 BCE). During this era, expansive wars, diplomatic action and land administration/governance reforms led Egypt to control a large part of modern Israel, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. To refer to this period, historians often use the terms Egyptian “empire” and Egyptian “imperialism”, extending terminology coined in the 19th century to describe modern cases of political dominance to Late Bronze Age Egypt. Furthermore, traditional scholarship also presents Egypt’s borders in such a way that Egypt appears as a solid territory with fixed borders, despite evidence pointing to a different model of geographical division. Seeking to explore whether the use of modern terms on ancient Egypt may be an anachronism, this paper reviews the scholarship on a) Egyptian records documenting conquests and b) contextual archaeological evidence from the southern Near East itself. This review highlights differences between modern and ancient conceptions of land domination. Finally, Egyptian border-related terms are used in a strictly local symbolic cultural context but not in the one of international diplomacy. As for Egypt’s boundary, it was mostly formed as a buffer zone rather than a borderline.

Showcasing the Empire

The second half of the nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth were remarkable for large-scale international exhibitions of agricultural products, manufactured goods, technological inventions, and artworks that were staged in major cities in purpose-built buildings and visited by very large numbers of people. These events were demonstrations of national pride, functioned as engines of modernity, and promoted the global exchange of knowledge, global competition, and global trade. The chapter discusses how Napoleon III used the Paris exhibitions of 1855 and 1867 to promote himself and his Empire and how Franz Joseph engaged in international diplomacy during the Viennese world exhibition on 1873. Pedro II used his prestige to promote Brazilian exhibits in Paris in 1862 and 1857, in Vienna in 1873 and in Philadelphia in 1876.

The geopolitics of COVID-19: US-China rivalry and the imminent Kindleberger trap

Purpose The spread of COVID-19 is not just a health crisis. The pandemic has taken a geopolitical dimension. The health crisis amplified the competitive dynamics between the USA and China, affected the provision of global public goods and injected instability into the global order. In line with the geopolitical zero-sum thinking, both the USA and China have sought to capitalize on the crisis to boost their international profile. Instead of working together to mitigate the health and economic impacts of COVID-19, the two powers fear that the other will exploit the current situation to accrue political, economic or military gains that will give it an edge after the pandemic subsides. The spread of COVID-19 has set off a “battle of narratives,” in which China and the USA are accusing each other of failing to rise to the challenge. The world seems to be falling into a “Kindleberger Trap,” in which the established power is unable to lead while the rising power is unwilling to assume responsibility. The COVID-19 crisis is occurring amid the collapse of global cooperation. The USA, the traditional leader of international collective efforts in times of crisis, has abandoned its role entirely. The lack of leadership at the global level during an international crisis may cause the breakdown of the international order. Design/methodology/approach This paper examines the US-China competitive dynamics through the lens of the work of Charles Kindleberger, which both liberals and realists regard as foundational when examining the dynamics of global crisis management. This paper also uses the meta-geopolitics framework to determine the ability of both China and the USA to respond to the current COVID-19 crisis and its implications for their power and standing in the international system. Findings This paper concludes that the only way to escape the Kindleberger trap is “to embed Sino-American relations in multilateralism.” Originality/value As rivals, both the USA and China are seeking to capitalize on the crisis to boost their international profile. This paper probes how China and the USA navigated the ongoing COVID-19 crisis to determine whether or not they are currently in a “Kindleberger Trap,” using elements of the meta-geopolitics framework of analysis, namely, health issues, domestic politics, economics, science and international diplomacy. Using the meta-geopolitics framework will help us determine the ability of both China and the USA to respond to the current COVID-19 crisis and the implications of that on their power and standing in the international system.