Popular in Political Science

American Politics

Keeping the Republic

Boston College Marc Landy

British Politics

Entrepreneurial thinking: the politics and practice of policy impact

University of Sheffield Matthew Flinders

Canadian Politics

Parties and Elections: An End to Canadian Exceptionalism?

St. Francis Xavier University James Bickerton

Asian Politics

The Politics of Knowledge in Development

University of Delhi Madhulika Banerjee

American Politics

Fifty years of declining confidence and increasing polarization in trust

University of California Berkeley Henry Brady

American Politics

The Opening Dilemma

Cornell University Richard Bensel

Political Economy

Wait and See?

University of Liverpool Mariaelisa Epifanio

Sports mega-events and changing world order

View more insights in Social Sciences - Political Science - Political Economy

View more figures from Dalhousie University

View the page of David Black

Read the Study

Next in Political Economy

Is There Really a Dictator’s Dilemma? Information and Repression in Autocracy

Scott Gehlbach | University of Chicago

Populism in Place: The Economic Geography of the Globalization Backlash

Lawrence Broz | UC San Diego

The political economy of SMEs in general and the Olympic Games in particular has generated a vast and growing scholarly and popular literature. David Black discusses.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 19, 2024

Log-in or Sign-up to Faculti
Currently viewing this subject insight as a guest. You have insight(s) remaining for this month. Login to view 8000+ figures on the platform.

Generating Workspace...

Export as PDF

This video video discusses the interplay between sports mega events, particularly the Olympic Games, and evolving world orders. The speaker is intrigued by cyclical patterns in the impact and popularity of these events and how they reflect broader geopolitical dynamics. He refers to ideas of world order in a "neo-Gramscian" sense, emphasizing the fragile and constantly evolving nature of power dynamics, which includes state authority, cultural practices, and dominant ideas.

The speaker notes that sports mega events serve as key sites for understanding global political changes, reflecting periods of stability and challenge within world order. He highlights historical examples such as the 1980 Moscow and 1984 Los Angeles Games to illustrate shifts in power and the emergence of a neoliberal model in global sports. The trends in hosting these events represent changing economic contexts, rising powers, and the complexities of public funding, corruption, and the legacies of these events.

He concludes that understanding these dynamics is crucial for both the study of world order and the politics of sport. The upcoming Paris Olympics serve as a lens through which to examine current tensions and human rights issues, suggesting that organizations involved in sports need to adapt and become more sophisticated in dealing with these complexities. Consequently, sports mega events could play a significant role in shaping future world orders and addressing global challenges.

Language:

Export as PDF

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

00:00.000 --> 00:03.245
It's a question that motivated, the, the paper that,

00:03.305 --> 00:06.845
that, I was thinking about

00:06.945 --> 00:09.005
or that you were thinking about when you, when,

00:09.005 --> 00:10.365
this invitation came, I imagine.

00:10.905 --> 00:14.045
Um, essentially, I'm, I've always been fascinated

00:14.065 --> 00:18.245
by the way in which, sports mega events in general

00:18.305 --> 00:22.885
and the Olympic Games in particular, have a kind of a,

00:23.125 --> 00:26.525
a, a trajectory of long cycles.

00:26.595 --> 00:29.045
They have periods of rising and falling

00:30.025 --> 00:33.285
and, in, in terms of their impact, in terms

00:33.285 --> 00:35.085
of their popularity, in terms of their reach.

00:35.865 --> 00:40.125
And it struck me that those, those patterns,

00:40.745 --> 00:44.665
were interconnected with changing

00:45.185 --> 00:47.185
dynamics of, of world order.

00:47.845 --> 00:50.665
Um, and I'm thinking about world order,

00:50.665 --> 00:55.025
in a neo gian sense, in the sense of, situations

00:55.025 --> 00:58.625
where there's a relatively high degree of fit between

00:59.185 --> 01:02.145
dominant ideas and key institutions

01:02.205 --> 01:03.625
and material capabilities.

01:04.405 --> 01:08.145
Um, and those orders are always fragile,

01:08.445 --> 01:11.625
and they're always in the process of being remade,

01:12.105 --> 01:15.945
reconstituted, or challenged and, and refined.

01:16.205 --> 01:19.425
And what I think you can see, in the,

01:19.565 --> 01:22.545
in overlaying those two dynamics,

01:22.725 --> 01:25.465
is the way in which sports mega events have,

01:25.535 --> 01:26.985
have not only reflected,

01:26.985 --> 01:29.945
but in some ways, reinforced,

01:30.745 --> 01:35.065
dominant trends in world order, constitution,

01:35.685 --> 01:38.265
sustainment and, decline.

01:38.805 --> 01:41.065
And of course, the other thing that motivated me

01:41.065 --> 01:43.545
to think about this was that we're living through a moment

01:43.565 --> 01:46.385
of what many people consider to be a, a, a kind

01:46.385 --> 01:49.425
of proto period of world order change, an an emerging,

01:49.885 --> 01:51.665
process of world order change.

01:51.685 --> 01:52.785
And, and, and,

01:52.785 --> 01:55.985
seeing the way in which sports mega events intersected with

01:55.985 --> 01:57.625
that process struck me as very important.

01:58.095 --> 02:02.265
When people speak about, growing tensions

02:02.525 --> 02:05.785
or growing uncertainties, in,

02:05.965 --> 02:09.265
the existing world order, they, they're often thinking about

02:10.245 --> 02:15.105
the balance of power between different state-based,

02:15.455 --> 02:19.345
sources of, of, of authority, and, and capacity.

02:19.885 --> 02:24.865
Um, and, Cox's approach is inspired by,

02:25.245 --> 02:27.665
the ideas of, Antonio Gramsci,

02:27.725 --> 02:31.625
but, situated on a transnational basis.

02:31.765 --> 02:34.985
And he became, and in a sense that the initiator

02:34.985 --> 02:37.545
of a whole school of neo gramsci and thought.

02:37.565 --> 02:42.105
And the point here is that that, more

02:42.205 --> 02:45.945
or less stable periods of world order,

02:46.845 --> 02:49.585
do not depend just on state-based power.

02:49.615 --> 02:53.505
State-based power, is reflected in dominant forms

02:53.525 --> 02:57.465
of institutions, but also in terms of material capabilities.

02:57.525 --> 03:01.405
And most importantly, from my perspective, I guess, the,

03:01.505 --> 03:05.245
the importance of, of ideas, dominant ideas,

03:05.385 --> 03:08.725
and cultural practices that reflect those dominant ideas.

03:09.025 --> 03:13.045
And it's the interplay between those, those spaces,

03:13.135 --> 03:15.605
those those, factors that

03:16.115 --> 03:19.325
determine whether orders are relatively stable

03:19.825 --> 03:23.005
or whether they're in, periods of, of transformation,

03:23.005 --> 03:24.445
whether they're challenged.

03:25.025 --> 03:28.445
Um, and it, it's, it seems to me

03:28.475 --> 03:32.325
that events like sports mega events, are key sites

03:32.575 --> 03:35.005
where all of these factors come together

03:35.385 --> 03:39.845
and can be reflected in, rising fortunes

03:40.385 --> 03:44.205
or appear, attempts to maintain, orders,

03:44.345 --> 03:46.165
or, sites of decay.

03:46.985 --> 03:51.445
Um, and so that's, that's, that's how I see Cox applying

03:51.445 --> 03:52.605
to these kinds of spaces.

03:53.495 --> 03:58.005
There is an astoundingly large number of,

03:58.565 --> 04:01.525
academic sources that focus on,

04:01.825 --> 04:04.925
sports mega events in general, and the Olympic Games

04:05.025 --> 04:06.685
and Olympism in particular.

04:07.385 --> 04:10.085
Uh, and they do so in a panoply

04:10.085 --> 04:11.685
of ways in many different ways.

04:12.545 --> 04:14.365
Um, but, and,

04:14.385 --> 04:18.365
and there are definitely, sources that,

04:18.875 --> 04:23.165
have grappled with these broad gauge, issues.

04:23.665 --> 04:27.685
Uh, but what I had not seen was an attempt to directly read

04:28.425 --> 04:32.445
sports mega events in relation to these processes

04:32.445 --> 04:33.765
of world are to change that we're

04:33.765 --> 04:35.485
increasingly preoccupied with.

04:35.905 --> 04:40.245
Um, and I also, saw it as necessary

04:40.385 --> 04:44.805
to think about these, these events not as one-off events

04:44.985 --> 04:46.365
or as particular sites,

04:46.865 --> 04:51.805
but as part, part of a long cycle of, of,

04:52.485 --> 04:54.325
changing fortunes of these events

04:54.345 --> 04:56.205
and the, the patterns that these events

04:56.845 --> 04:58.885
together constitute in terms of a story

04:59.475 --> 05:02.725
that they tell about both, sports mega events,

05:02.945 --> 05:05.605
but also about these longer term processes of,

05:05.945 --> 05:07.445
of transition and change.

05:07.825 --> 05:10.925
Um, in terms of other sources

05:11.035 --> 05:13.205
that I think have been really important in this area,

05:13.305 --> 05:17.045
and that I draw inspiration from, scholars like,

05:17.045 --> 05:20.445
John Hoberman, who talks about Olympic internationalism

05:20.505 --> 05:22.565
and it's, and, and the way in which,

05:22.565 --> 05:26.085
the Olympic movement in the early part of the 20th century,

05:26.785 --> 05:31.005
mapped onto ideas of internationalism,

05:31.065 --> 05:35.845
in world society, work like that of, of,

05:35.845 --> 05:39.445
Rick Reno and John Horn on, sports Meg events

05:39.665 --> 05:41.685
and their relationship to,

05:41.715 --> 05:43.965
late stage global capitalism, if you like.

05:44.105 --> 05:45.965
Uh, I think these have also, they,

05:45.965 --> 05:47.565
they've been very influential and helpful.

05:48.225 --> 05:51.205
Uh, but, but the particular angle that I took, I,

05:51.325 --> 05:54.725
I think was, was, somewhat novel the point that I am,

05:54.905 --> 05:56.765
I'm trying to get at, and I used

05:56.765 --> 05:58.405
It for illustrative purposes

05:58.405 --> 06:00.805
because I think that this, this relationship

06:00.805 --> 06:03.805
that I'm talking about can be traced throughout the history

06:03.805 --> 06:07.285
of the emergence of, of the, the modern Sports Mega event.

06:07.825 --> 06:10.845
Uh, but I wanted, I could see it particularly,

06:10.955 --> 06:13.685
acutely in relation to the period of

06:14.475 --> 06:16.645
what some have called world order inter agni

06:16.645 --> 06:20.845
that we're moving into by tracking the rise,

06:22.185 --> 06:23.205
the adaptation,

06:23.425 --> 06:25.765
and then the erosion of,

06:25.835 --> 06:29.125
what I called in the paper high, high neoliberalism.

06:29.585 --> 06:33.365
Uh, and so really the story here is that there was a kind

06:33.605 --> 06:35.605
of 10 year cluster

06:35.905 --> 06:40.845
or pivot point around the sequence of the, Los Angeles,

06:41.225 --> 06:42.725
the Moscow Games in 1980

06:42.865 --> 06:47.725
and the Los Angeles games in 1984, which was,

06:47.785 --> 06:52.045
initiated with, the boycott of the Moscow Games,

06:52.255 --> 06:55.885
which greatly diminished the prestige that,

06:55.885 --> 06:58.525
that the Soviet Union Union was attempting to seek

06:58.675 --> 07:00.205
through hosting these events.

07:00.465 --> 07:04.765
And, not withstanding the controversy about the Boycott

07:04.875 --> 07:08.045
illustrated, the capacity of the United States to mobilize

07:08.555 --> 07:12.485
support for its cause, that was then followed

07:12.665 --> 07:15.165
by 1984 when the Soviet Union

07:15.305 --> 07:18.285
and several, of its allies boycotted

07:18.285 --> 07:19.325
the Los Angeles games.

07:19.705 --> 07:23.765
But rather than diminishing the impact of those games, they,

07:23.875 --> 07:27.405
they, they align with us kind of with a, well,

07:27.665 --> 07:31.365
for one thing, the emerge of, emergence of,

07:31.425 --> 07:36.085
of a fully capitalist, fully marketized,

07:36.085 --> 07:38.205
Olympic model in Los Angeles.

07:38.825 --> 07:43.645
Uh, and also, with, a, a, a surge of

07:44.285 --> 07:45.805
optimism and patriotism

07:45.985 --> 07:48.325
and,

07:50.915 --> 07:52.445
bravado, if you like, from the,

07:52.545 --> 07:54.725
the Reagan administration in the United States.

07:55.185 --> 07:56.805
Uh, and so this, the sense

07:56.805 --> 07:59.685
that you could see the tide turning, you could see that the,

07:59.705 --> 08:03.125
the, the stalemate of the Cold War was, was, starting

08:03.125 --> 08:04.725
to turn and was illustrated

08:04.825 --> 08:06.605
and manifested by these two events

08:07.355 --> 08:11.805
that then fed into a long cycle of what I call the sort

08:11.805 --> 08:13.925
of rise, adaptation

08:13.925 --> 08:17.885
and decline of, of the neo, the exclusively neoliberal model

08:17.945 --> 08:21.765
of the games, which, which was reflected in the numbers

08:21.785 --> 08:23.325
of bidders for these events.

08:23.825 --> 08:27.005
It was reflected in the range of bidders.

08:27.005 --> 08:29.125
So more and more, they weren't just,

08:29.235 --> 08:31.485
rich states from the, the global north.

08:31.995 --> 08:35.565
They were, the full array of,

08:35.585 --> 08:40.445
of rising states from Asia, from Latin America,

08:40.475 --> 08:43.245
bids for, to host these events from places like Cape Town

08:43.265 --> 08:45.125
and, and Cairo and Africa.

08:45.945 --> 08:48.925
So, and of course, this was sort of initiated

08:48.925 --> 08:51.325
with the Soul Games, which also held up the promise

08:51.395 --> 08:53.445
that the games could be associated

08:53.445 --> 08:55.710
with rising developmental success,

08:56.105 --> 08:58.565
but also growing democratization.

08:59.065 --> 09:02.925
Uh, and then, over time, as the,

09:03.025 --> 09:07.205
the commercial promise, the urban regeneration promises all

09:07.205 --> 09:11.045
of these, positive branding promises associated

09:11.045 --> 09:14.725
with these games, sort

09:14.725 --> 09:17.805
of reinforce the neoliberal model of development.

09:18.345 --> 09:22.085
Uh, then you saw growing disaffection

09:22.385 --> 09:27.285
as they were also associated with extremes of, of,

09:28.075 --> 09:32.845
sometimes the misuse of public funds, of, degrees

09:32.865 --> 09:37.325
of corruption and of, post, post-event hangovers of,

09:37.385 --> 09:38.485
of white elephants.

09:38.485 --> 09:43.405
So you saw that with, with, the hyper capitalizing,

09:43.625 --> 09:46.765
character of the Atlanta Games, then the 2004

09:47.465 --> 09:52.165
Athens games, which were, precursors to the, the,

09:52.585 --> 09:56.405
the deep economic crisis that was faced in Greece,

09:56.405 --> 09:57.725
there immediately thereafter.

09:58.425 --> 09:59.885
Um, and,

09:59.945 --> 10:03.485
and I think, most strikingly so far, the,

10:04.105 --> 10:07.645
the 2016 Rio Games, which when they were awarded to Rio,

10:08.105 --> 10:12.525
seemed to embody the promise of rising prosperity

10:12.525 --> 10:17.085
through joining the ranks of, of, the neoliberal world.

10:17.505 --> 10:20.725
But by the time the they took place had actually come

10:20.745 --> 10:24.045
to reflect the excesses and abuses of that promise.

10:24.745 --> 10:26.045
Uh, and,

10:26.045 --> 10:30.605
and then that was overlaid with the emergence

10:30.605 --> 10:34.805
of a growing trend towards, illiberal regime seeking

10:34.825 --> 10:38.765
to host these kinds of events with Sochi in 2014.

10:38.875 --> 10:41.805
Well, Beijing in 2000, Beijing in 2008 is really interesting

10:41.805 --> 10:45.325
because there was still the hope that Beijing would become,

10:45.345 --> 10:48.405
as it were, a normal capitalist power, that it would reform

10:48.405 --> 10:51.365
and become, a part of, this, this

10:51.895 --> 10:53.525
neoliberal hegemonic model.

10:54.025 --> 10:57.485
Uh, but by 2022, that, hope had dissipated.

10:57.705 --> 10:59.965
Um, and, it was also,

11:00.305 --> 11:05.165
it was also reflected in the 2018, FIFA World Cup

11:05.185 --> 11:06.365
and, and, and, Russia.

11:06.585 --> 11:10.005
And, and so, so I think you see, you see a, a,

11:10.245 --> 11:13.085
a pivotal cluster, a long cycle.

11:13.265 --> 11:15.205
And then in a sense, we're in, in a current,

11:15.205 --> 11:17.885
another current moment of great uncertainty

11:18.225 --> 11:21.405
and how the, how, the games reflect

11:22.105 --> 11:25.045
and navigate these kinds of processes is going

11:25.045 --> 11:26.565
to be telling in terms of the kind

11:26.565 --> 11:27.685
of world order that emerges.

11:28.095 --> 11:29.765
There are conclusions

11:29.765 --> 11:34.485
and implications for students of, of world order change, of,

11:34.545 --> 11:37.205
of world orders, of the question of, of world order

11:37.205 --> 11:38.285
and international relations.

11:38.705 --> 11:41.165
And there are also, interestingly enough, I think,

11:41.405 --> 11:44.925
important conclusions for students of the politics of sport

11:45.145 --> 11:46.565
and sport diplomacy.

11:47.065 --> 11:51.285
Um, I think, in terms of the former, I, I, my,

11:51.385 --> 11:52.645
my general point is

11:53.155 --> 11:57.685
That if we want to understand, what is going on,

11:57.735 --> 12:00.885
where the current is running in terms of the, the,

12:01.025 --> 12:02.805
the process of world order breakdown,

12:02.865 --> 12:06.965
but also the, the emergence of a landscape of change,

12:07.075 --> 12:09.645
what might a future world order look like then?

12:09.685 --> 12:11.245
I think one of the key sites

12:11.505 --> 12:14.325
to look is actually these kinds of events.

12:14.945 --> 12:18.725
Um, I, I think that they, they become, fulcrums,

12:18.725 --> 12:23.445
if you like, they become focal points for contestation by,

12:23.625 --> 12:27.125
of ideas, contestations of, of models.

12:27.785 --> 12:31.245
Uh, there's this whole question of, for example,

12:31.245 --> 12:35.765
with the Paris Olympics coming up this summer, how will,

12:36.145 --> 12:40.165
participants respond to the presence

12:40.165 --> 12:41.325
of Russian athletes?

12:41.995 --> 12:44.445
What questions, what, what question,

12:44.445 --> 12:47.885
or what approaches, will participants take

12:48.065 --> 12:51.685
to human rights issues and this, and future contexts?

12:52.185 --> 12:55.885
Uh, what decisions will be made about who future hosts are

12:55.905 --> 12:58.925
and, and the terms under which, they,

12:58.925 --> 12:59.965
they adopt these roles?

13:00.105 --> 13:05.045
So I think looking at these kinds of events as key sites

13:05.985 --> 13:08.685
in this process of, of transition,

13:08.785 --> 13:13.765
and potentially transformation is an illuminating window on

13:14.025 --> 13:17.365
the, the, the, the, the problem at of world order, what kind

13:17.365 --> 13:18.485
of world order are we living in?

13:18.485 --> 13:22.805
What kind of, world order are we moving towards for,

13:22.945 --> 13:26.325
the many people who are engaged in sport politics

13:26.325 --> 13:27.565
and sport diplomacy?

13:27.835 --> 13:31.165
There's this whole parallel universe of sport,

13:31.165 --> 13:32.725
international sporting organizations,

13:33.245 --> 13:34.245
national sporting organizations,

13:34.605 --> 13:37.485
national Olympic Committees, and of course, all

13:37.485 --> 13:39.725
of the civil society organizations that mobilize

13:39.725 --> 13:42.365
around these events, that

13:43.595 --> 13:46.225
we've probably paid too little attention to.

13:46.765 --> 13:48.345
Uh, and, and as a result,

13:48.535 --> 13:51.905
they have often not been very sophisticated in dealing

13:52.055 --> 13:55.985
with the kinds of challenges that, that, befall them,

13:56.005 --> 13:57.825
if you like, when they, when they take on these,

13:57.835 --> 13:58.985
these kinds of hosting roles.

13:59.645 --> 14:02.345
And I think that they are going to have to become

14:02.855 --> 14:06.705
much more sophisticated in, in nav in, in

14:07.225 --> 14:09.745
recognizing the, the degree to which they are in fact,

14:09.745 --> 14:12.905
central sites of, of,

14:13.475 --> 14:14.785
world order contestation.

14:15.045 --> 14:17.665
And they face enormous challenges in, in terms

14:17.665 --> 14:20.865
of navigating, that space

14:21.245 --> 14:24.505
and also, seeking to do so in a way

14:24.505 --> 14:26.505
that protects the integrity of the events

14:26.535 --> 14:28.665
that they are trying to, to manage.

14:28.685 --> 14:31.785
And, and the, the brands or the identities

14:31.785 --> 14:34.185
or the movements that they claim to, to speak for.

14:34.255 --> 14:35.345
This is particularly true

14:35.345 --> 14:36.465
of the International Olympic Committee.

14:36.965 --> 14:39.305
Uh, but it's also true of,

14:39.485 --> 14:41.145
of the national Olympic committees,

14:41.145 --> 14:42.465
international sports federations.

14:42.535 --> 14:45.825
They're gonna have to, to become more adept at, at,

14:45.885 --> 14:47.345
managing these kinds of spaces.

14:47.495 --> 14:50.945
It's been a trend that's been taking place, for,

14:50.965 --> 14:52.745
for, for about a generation now,

14:52.765 --> 14:55.625
but it, it, it needs to, to, accelerate.

Sports Mega Events and World Order Dynamics

00:00:00 - It's a question that motivated, the, the paper that, that, I was thinking about or that you were thinking about when you, when, this invitation came, I imagine. essentially, I'm, I've always been fascinated by the way in which, sports mega events in general and the Olympic Games in particular, have a kind of a, a, a trajectory of long cycles. They have periods of rising and falling and, in, in terms of their impact, in terms of their popularity, in terms of their reach.
00:00:40 - were interconnected with changing dynamics of, of world order. and I'm thinking about world order, in a neo gian sense, in the sense of, situations where there's a relatively high degree of fit between dominant ideas and key institutions and material capabilities. and those orders are always fragile,
00:01:12 - reconstituted, or challenged and, and refined. And what I think you can see, in the, in overlaying those two dynamics, is the way in which sports mega events have, have not only reflected, but in some ways, reinforced, dominant trends in world order, constitution, sustainment and, decline.
00:01:41 - to think about this was that we're living through a moment of what many people consider to be a, a, a kind of proto period of world order change, an an emerging, process of world order change. And, and, and, seeing the way in which sports mega events intersected with that process struck me as very important. When people speak about, growing tensions or growing uncertainties, in, the existing world order, they, they're often thinking about
00:02:15 - sources of, of, of authority, and, and capacity. and, Cox's approach is inspired by, the ideas of, Antonio Gramsci, but, situated on a transnational basis. And he became, and in a sense that the initiator of a whole school of neo gramsci and thought. And the point here is that that, more
00:02:46 - do not depend just on state-based power. State-based power, is reflected in dominant forms of institutions, but also in terms of material capabilities. And most importantly, from my perspective, I guess, the, the importance of, of ideas, dominant ideas, and cultural practices that reflect those dominant ideas. And it's the interplay between those, those spaces,

Sports Mega Events and World Order Dynamics

00:03:16 - determine whether orders are relatively stable or whether they're in, periods of, of transformation, whether they're challenged. and it, it's, it seems to me that events like sports mega events, are key sites where all of these factors come together and can be reflected in, rising fortunes or appear, attempts to maintain, orders,
00:03:46 - and so that's, that's, that's how I see Cox applying to these kinds of spaces. There is an astoundingly large number of, academic sources that focus on, sports mega events in general, and the Olympic Games and Olympism in particular. and they do so in a panoply of ways in many different ways. but, and,
00:04:18 - have grappled with these broad gauge, issues. but what I had not seen was an attempt to directly read sports mega events in relation to these processes of world are to change that we're increasingly preoccupied with. and I also, saw it as necessary to think about these, these events not as one-off events
00:04:46 - but as part, part of a long cycle of, of, changing fortunes of these events and the, the patterns that these events together constitute in terms of a story that they tell about both, sports mega events, but also about these longer term processes of, of transition and change. in terms of other sources that I think have been really important in this area, and that I draw inspiration from, scholars like,
00:05:20 - and it's, and, and the way in which, the Olympic movement in the early part of the 20th century, mapped onto ideas of internationalism, in world society, work like that of, of, Rick Reno and John Horn on, sports Meg events and their relationship to, late stage global capitalism, if you like. I think these have also, they, they've been very influential and helpful.
00:05:51 - I think was, was, somewhat novel the point that I am, I'm trying to get at, and I used It for illustrative purposes because I think that this, this relationship that I'm talking about can be traced throughout the history of the emergence of, of the, the modern Sports Mega event. but I wanted, I could see it particularly, acutely in relation to the period of what some have called world order inter agni that we're moving into by tracking the rise,

Neoliberalism and the Olympic Games Evolution

00:06:23 - and then the erosion of, what I called in the paper high, high neoliberalism. and so really the story here is that there was a kind of 10 year cluster or pivot point around the sequence of the, Los Angeles, the Moscow Games in 1980 and the Los Angeles games in 1984, which was, initiated with, the boycott of the Moscow Games,
00:06:55 - that the Soviet Union Union was attempting to seek through hosting these events. And, not withstanding the controversy about the Boycott illustrated, the capacity of the United States to mobilize support for its cause, that was then followed by 1984 when the Soviet Union and several, of its allies boycotted the Los Angeles games. But rather than diminishing the impact of those games, they,
00:07:27 - for one thing, the emerge of, emergence of, of a fully capitalist, fully marketized, Olympic model in Los Angeles. and also, with, a, a, a surge of optimism and patriotism and, bravado, if you like, from the, the Reagan administration in the United States.
00:07:56 - that you could see the tide turning, you could see that the, the, the stalemate of the Cold War was, was, starting to turn and was illustrated and manifested by these two events that then fed into a long cycle of what I call the sort of rise, adaptation and decline of, of the neo, the exclusively neoliberal model of the games, which, which was reflected in the numbers of bidders for these events. It was reflected in the range of bidders.
00:08:29 - rich states from the, the global north. They were, the full array of, of rising states from Asia, from Latin America, bids for, to host these events from places like Cape Town and, and Cairo and Africa. So, and of course, this was sort of initiated with the Soul Games, which also held up the promise that the games could be associated with rising developmental success, but also growing democratization.
00:09:03 - the commercial promise, the urban regeneration promises all of these, positive branding promises associated with these games, sort of reinforce the neoliberal model of development. then you saw growing disaffection as they were also associated with extremes of, of, sometimes the misuse of public funds, of, degrees

Impact of Mega Events on World Order

00:09:37 - of white elephants. So you saw that with, with, the hyper capitalizing, character of the Atlanta Games, then the 2004 Athens games, which were, precursors to the, the, the deep economic crisis that was faced in Greece, there immediately thereafter. and, and I think, most strikingly so far, the,
00:10:08 - seemed to embody the promise of rising prosperity through joining the ranks of, of, the neoliberal world. But by the time the they took place had actually come to reflect the excesses and abuses of that promise. and, and then that was overlaid with the emergence of a growing trend towards, illiberal regime seeking
00:10:38 - Well, Beijing in 2000, Beijing in 2008 is really interesting because there was still the hope that Beijing would become, as it were, a normal capitalist power, that it would reform and become, a part of, this, this neoliberal hegemonic model. but by 2022, that, hope had dissipated. and, it was also, it was also reflected in the 2018, FIFA World Cup
00:11:06 - And, and so, so I think you see, you see a, a, a pivotal cluster, a long cycle. And then in a sense, we're in, in a current, another current moment of great uncertainty and how the, how, the games reflect and navigate these kinds of processes is going to be telling in terms of the kind of world order that emerges. There are conclusions and implications for students of, of world order change, of, of world orders, of the question of, of world order
00:11:38 - And there are also, interestingly enough, I think, important conclusions for students of the politics of sport and sport diplomacy. I think, in terms of the former, I, I, my, my general point is That if we want to understand, what is going on, where the current is running in terms of the, the, the process of world order breakdown, but also the, the emergence of a landscape of change, what might a future world order look like then?
00:12:11 - to look is actually these kinds of events. I, I think that they, they become, fulcrums, if you like, they become focal points for contestation by, of ideas, contestations of, of models. there's this whole question of, for example, with the Paris Olympics coming up this summer, how will, participants respond to the presence

Navigating Human Rights in Sports Events

00:12:41 - What questions, what, what question, or what approaches, will participants take to human rights issues and this, and future contexts? what decisions will be made about who future hosts are and, and the terms under which, they, they adopt these roles? So I think looking at these kinds of events as key sites in this process of, of transition, and potentially transformation is an illuminating window on
00:13:17 - of world order are we living in? What kind of, world order are we moving towards for, the many people who are engaged in sport politics and sport diplomacy? There's this whole parallel universe of sport, international sporting organizations, national sporting organizations, national Olympic Committees, and of course, all of the civil society organizations that mobilize around these events, that we've probably paid too little attention to.
00:13:48 - they have often not been very sophisticated in dealing with the kinds of challenges that, that, befall them, if you like, when they, when they take on these, these kinds of hosting roles. And I think that they are going to have to become much more sophisticated in, in nav in, in recognizing the, the degree to which they are in fact, central sites of, of, world order contestation. And they face enormous challenges in, in terms
00:14:21 - and also, seeking to do so in a way that protects the integrity of the events that they are trying to, to manage. And, and the, the brands or the identities or the movements that they claim to, to speak for. This is particularly true of the International Olympic Committee. but it's also true of, of the national Olympic committees, international sports federations. They're gonna have to, to become more adept at, at, managing these kinds of spaces. It's been a trend that's been taking place, for,
00:14:52 - but it, it, it needs to, to, accelerate.

Faculti AI can make mistakes

Faculti

Popular in Political Science

Keeping the Republic

Entrepreneurial thinking: the politics and practice of policy impact

Parties and Elections: An End to Canadian Exceptionalism?

The Politics of Knowledge in Development

Fifty years of declining confidence and increasing polarization in trust

The Opening Dilemma

Wait and See?

Sports mega-events and changing world order

Next in Political Economy

Guide

Platform and Category Pages

Contact Us

FAQs

What is Faculti?

How do you select interviews?

Interview Process

Page Structure

Popular in Political Science

Guide

Platform and Category Pages

Contact Us

FAQs

What is Faculti?

How do you select interviews?

Interview Process

Accessibility Options

Contrast Adjustment

Text Size Adjustment

Text Spacing Adjustment

Line Height Adjustment

Cursor Size Adjustment

Page Structure Options

Page Structure