{"id":1815,"date":"2018-02-19T07:27:21","date_gmt":"2018-02-19T13:27:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=1815"},"modified":"2018-02-22T11:39:30","modified_gmt":"2018-02-22T17:39:30","slug":"political-games-at-the-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2018\/02\/19\/political-games-at-the-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Political Games at the Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_1819\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1819\" style=\"width: 533px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/pahudson\/7736069354\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1819\" src=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2018\/02\/7736069354_e4f6baa7c6_z-600x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"533\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2018\/02\/7736069354_e4f6baa7c6_z-600x450.jpg 600w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2018\/02\/7736069354_e4f6baa7c6_z-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/files\/2018\/02\/7736069354_e4f6baa7c6_z.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 533px) 100vw, 533px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1819\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by Paul Hudson, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For many across the globe, the Olympics is a chance to celebrate a shared human connection, athletic achievement, and national pride. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.olympic.org\/olympic-studies-centre\/collections\/official-publications\/olympic-charters\">Olympic Charter<\/a> claims the Games encourage friendship, cross-cultural understanding, and world peace, but to do so the games must be free of politics. The Olympics present an opportunity to cross divisive diplomatic lines, like the temporary calming of tensions between\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/time.com\/5127986\/north-south-korea-olympics-truce\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">North and South Korea<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. But these ideals may be overly optimistic as these global events have real political effects.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/socialsciences.uchicago.edu\/faculty\/john-macaloon\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">John J. MacAloon<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 1982. \u201c<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/4335260\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Double Visions: Olympic games and American Culture<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d <em>The Kenyon Review<\/em> 4(1): 98-112.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Historically, only the economic and social elite participated in the Olympics, so other versions like the Worker\u2019s Games countered the Olympic Games in the early 1900s.\u00a0In addition, the Olympics themselves have become a space to challenge the status quo. Protests, or lack thereof, can challenge or reinforce global norms.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/cla.umn.edu\/about\/directory\/profile\/hartm021\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Douglas Hartmann<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 2003. <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/press.uchicago.edu\/ucp\/books\/book\/chicago\/R\/bo3634446.html\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Race, Culture, and the Revolt of the Black Athlete<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/profile\/Arnd_Krueger\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Arnd Kr\u00fcger<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and William Murray (eds.). 2003. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.press.uillinois.edu\/books\/catalog\/73twb5fw9780252028151.html\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Nazi Olympics: Sport, Politics, and Appeasement in the 1930s<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/utoronto.academia.edu\/RobMillington\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rob Millington<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/kpe.utoronto.ca\/faculty\/darnell-simon\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Simon C Darnell<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1177\/1012690212455374\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Constructing and Contesting the Olympics Online: The Internet, Rio 2016 and the Politics of Brazilian Development<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">International Review for the Sociology of Sport<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 49(2): 190-210.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Sporting events like the Olympics may allow nations to compete with each other without the consequences of war. Non-violent competition is even more important in the modern world, where technology allows for increasingly lethal methods of warfare. This may be one reason nations financially invest in producing elite athletes and could be behind recent controversies, like the Russian <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/02\/01\/sports\/olympics\/russia-doping-ban.html\">doping scandal<\/a>.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.professorjamangan.com\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">J.A. Mangan<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (ed.). 2004. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books\/about\/Militarism_Sport_Europe.html?id=Ycsx1MRPMIgC\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Militarism, Sport, Europe: War Without Weapons<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. London: Frank Cass Publishers.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pem.cam.ac.uk\/international-programmes\/pembroke-kings-programme\/academics\/courses\/professor-lincoln-allison\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lincoln Allison<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/warwick.ac.uk\/newsandevents\/olympics2012\/people\/terry_monnington\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Terry Monnington<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 2002. &#8220;<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/10.1111\/1477-7053.00089\/abstract\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sport, Prestige and International Relations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Government and Opposition<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">37<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(1): 106-134.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h5>Though intended to be apolitical, nations may attempt to use the Olympics to sway global public opinion. Foreign policy officials report that political rebranding was a key reason to host the games. Modern media channels make this motivation even more powerful than in decades past, as nations know that the Olympics will have extensive global coverage.<\/h5>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/smpa.gwu.edu\/jarol-manheim\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jarol B. Manheim<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 1990. \u201c<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/doi\/pdf\/10.1177\/106591299004300205\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rites of Passage: The 1988 Seoul Olympics as Public Diplomacy<\/span><\/a>.<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201d<\/span> <i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Political Research Quarterly<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> 43(2): 279-295.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/soci.ucalgary.ca\/manageprofile\/profiles\/kevin-young\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kevin Young <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uwo.ca\/fhs\/kin\/people\/faculty\/wamsley_k.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kevin B. Wamsley<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 2005. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Olympics-Historical-Sociological-Research-Sociology\/dp\/0762311819\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Global Olympics: Historical and Sociological Studies of the Modern Games<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/arts.brighton.ac.uk\/staff\/alan-tomlinson\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Alan Tomlinson<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mml.cam.ac.uk\/professor-christopher-young\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Christopher Young<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 2006. <\/span><em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sunypress.edu\/p-4194-national-identity-and-global-sp.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">National Identity and Global Sports Events: Culture, Politics, and Spectacle in the Olympics and the Football World Cup<\/span><\/a><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Albany: State University of New York Press.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/communication.cals.cornell.edu\/people\/lee-humphreys\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Lee Humphreys<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dur.ac.uk\/sgia\/profiles\/?id=16329\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Christopher J. Finlay<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. 2008. \u201cNew Technologies, New Narratives\u201d Pp. 284-306 in \u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/quod.lib.umich.edu\/n\/nmw\/5646196.0001.001\/1:4.3\/--owning-the-olympics-narratives-of-the-new-china?g=dculture;rgn=div2;view=fulltext;xc=1\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China<\/span><\/i><\/a>.\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For many across the globe, the Olympics is a chance to celebrate a shared human connection, athletic achievement, and national pride. The Olympic Charter claims the Games encourage friendship, cross-cultural understanding, and world peace, but to do so the games must be free of politics. The Olympics present an opportunity to cross divisive diplomatic lines, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2020,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,13,85,14],"tags":[433,1891,38543,167,1399,103468,38541,1046,26934,497,38546,38542,50,108],"class_list":["post-1815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-inequality","category-politics","category-race","tag-athlete","tag-competition","tag-culture","tag-foreign-policy","tag-global","tag-global-politics","tag-inequality","tag-international","tag-international-politics","tag-olympics","tag-politics","tag-race","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2020"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1815"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1872,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815\/revisions\/1872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}