PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO DO THE COURSE EVALUATION

Soccer can explain the world, but so can goods and crops

When first reading the title of Franklin Foer's "How Soccer Explains the World", I predicted that Foer would somehow use the rules and mechanics of soccer to develop a direct connection to globalization. However, my prediction was a little too literal. In "How Soccer Explains the World", Foer explores the trend between politics and one of the most popular sports in the world. I admire Foer's unique examination of globalization (however if he could have tied the actual mechanics of soccer to explaining how the world works, that would have been much cooler). Nonetheless Foer uses anecdotes about the Red Star of Belgrade to the relationship between the Protestant Rangers and the Catholic Celtics.

I would like to examine some other influential aspect of the world that can explain globalization. Those aspects, are goods and crops. The spread and exchange of crops have been active for centuries now. This communication of crops and goods between nations has led to economic expansion and spurred change across the globe.

Take the Columbian Exchange for instance. This system created unprecedented connections for crops between the America, Europe, Africa and Asia. The exchange had an economic impact on parts of Europe in particular, some cities were even recognized as “boom towns”. Additionally the people of Europe were healthier than ever before.

Author of “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created”, Charles Mann says that “There’s no way the Industrial Revolution could have so occured so quickly and so widely if the world had depended solely on Brazilians tapping rubber trees”. Many revolutionary events in the world have happened because of the open flow of goods and crops.

In the  New York Times article, Fresh and Direct From the Garden an Ocean Away, John Tierney 

analyzes the text “1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created” by Charles Mann. Tierney points out a key statement made by Charles Mann, where he writes “ The Columbian Exchange...is the reason there are tomatoes in Italy, oranges in the United States, chocolate sin Switzerland, and chili peppers in Thailand..the Columbus Exchange is arguable the most important event since the death of dinosaurs.”. Like Mann, I would argue that it is hard to imagine how the world we live in today came to be without spread of goods and crops.

Sports Diplomacy

This post will reference this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/fight-ends-georgetown-basketball-exhibition-in-china/2011/08/18/gIQAs1zeNJ_story.html.

In August of 2011, the men’s basketball team of Georgetown University, a prestigious school located within Washington, DC, was on a goodwill tour of China, to play several games with teams from China’s professional basketball league, among others. The Hoyas, as the team is known, played a game against a professional team whose players are all active duty members of the Chinese army. The game was very physical, with lopsided foul calls in favor of the Chinese, and aggressive, with a Chinese player yelling at the Hoya coach during play and a cheering section of Chinese soldiers cheering for the team in a surprisingly martial manner. With about 10 minutes left to play, a confrontation between a Hoy and a Chinese player quickly escalated into a bench-clearing brawl, with far more violence than the typical shoving matches most American basketball teams get into. Chinese supporters ran onto the court and threw projectiles at the Hoyas as the Americans retreated to their locker room.

On that note, let’s talk about the positive aspects of sport diplomacy! The use of athletic competition to work towards achieving international political goals is an intriguing topic, and notwithstanding the occasional mishap like the one above, it generally has good outcomes for all involved.

The Olympics are a prime example of this. When they were first started, wars between participating city-states in Ancient Greece would be suspended so the games could go on. In their modern incarnation, medal counts are interpreted as a point of national pride, and, in a far more abstract sense, the relative international power of each country.

To seek out international sporting opportunities in order to make IR gains is reminiscent of constructivism and liberalism, since the two focus more on addressing squishier, more emotional factors that go into IR, namely public opinion and goodwill. Like many children of upper-middle class suburban America, I played soccer in a recreational league. While this experience didn’t make have much of an impact on the relations of my burbclave with the other team’s burbclave, I could grasp how international competition in such a universal sport, even if it turns ugly like the Hoyas game, is useful. Franklin Foer’s book, How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, while I feel it is more a collection of interesting anecdotes than a cohesive thesis, nonetheless highlights the universality  of the various effects sport has on us all around the globe.

Identity, Soccer, and Terrorism

Matthew Smith

Blog Post 4

As I read Foer’s “How Soccer Explains the World” I found myself thinking about terrorist organizations. The first chapter was of particular interest to me in its description of the Delije and Arkan’s rise. I found myself drawing parallels between soccer gangs, the Delije specifically, and terrorist groups. In both cases the groups have a common factor serving as the basis of their relationship, an effective leadership unifies and directs the group, and groups find people from elsewhere flocking to them seeking something to identify with.

            Terrorist groups unify under an ideology whether it be religious or political or a blend of both. The group is comprised of people with common interests or goals. When these interests or goals are in conflict with the beliefs or goals of another group a terrorist group can turn towards violence to combat the competing ideology. The Delije began as a group of fans for the Serbian Belgarde Red Star. The fan base identified heavily with the team as a symbol of their ethnic identity. The fans rallied behind their team and against the other teams and the ethnic identities they represented. The stage was set for the Ultra Bad Boys (the name of the fan gang before they were militarized) to be mobilized by their united ideology much like a terrorist group would.

            When we discuss terrorist organizations we discuss the leadership. Because organizations are subnational it is easiest to identify them by their leadership. Arkan was the leader of the Delije. He was able to use effective military leadership to attain prominence and wealth. This is slightly different from a terrorist organization where money and good arming often leads to effective military leadership but still a leader was able to play on a group ready and able to mobilize. As I read I kept comparing Arkan and his glorification to the glorification of terrorist leaders within their groups. Arkan’s face was everywhere and so was his tiger symbol. His people saw pictures of the horrible things he did and they ate it up. The images that turned many sentiments in the West against the Delije and its Serbian pride only served to further excite Serbians. Arkan sought to intimidate and create fear in those he opposed and his efforts galvanized the Serbs that supported him. His actions and their results are similar to those of a terrorist group that uses successful bombings and attacks as recruitment propaganda.

            Turning away from the example of the Delije I found one quote that resonated with me regarding Irish soccer teams and their fandom. On page 39-40 Foer writes, “even in the global market, they draw supporters who crave ethnic identification.” This quote immediately connected to ISIS for me. In the wake of the assassination videos in which a militant with a British accent executed journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff you saw numerous reports about Western European and American Muslims defecting to the Middle East to connect with their Muslim identity. In an effort to connect with what they thought it meant to be a Muslim many young men were joining the ranks of ISIS, attracted to it’s militant rhetoric and sensationalist actions. The Irish club teams tried to attract fans by appealing to their sense of identity just as ISIS has played on Western Muslims who feel that ISIS embodies their beliefs. I find it interesting that people seek an ethnic connection so strongly. I myself identify with my Norwegian heritage and pull for them in the Olympics even though I have never been there.
            In the end I may be pulling for straws but I am fascinated by how the Delije was organized and how both soccer and terrorism employ the ethnic identities of people to rally them to a cause. Once an identity forms the desire to protect it runs deep. Effective leaders know this and will always use people’s identities to their advantage.

Fourth Blog Post: Constructivism and Soccer

Constructivism can be applied to soccer. Constructivism looks at how the identities of states determines their interests. For this theory to be applied to soccer teams, soccer teams must be considered as states, as they control their own territory within the stadiums of their sport.

As teams originate due to different countries of origin or religious backgrounds, the teams form an identity. The premise of the team’s identity is either religion or nationalism. According to Wendt, “A fundamental principle of constructivist social theory is that people act towards objects, including other actors, on the basis of the meanings that the objects have for them” (Wendt 1992, pg. 60). As the followers of the team chant for their team or make crude insults at the fans of the opposing team, the followers are assigning meaning to the teams. One example of this is when the fans from a team called Chelsea made antisemitic remarks regarding the Jewish tradition of circumcision towards the Jewish fans of the team from Tottenham. To shut down the heckling, the Jews from Tottenham responded to the anti-semitism by proudly showing off their circumcised private parts (Foer 2010, pg. 80). By participating in the heckling, the fans have created the idea of a “self” and “other” (Lecture 5).

The creation of identities may cause conflicts between the fans of the two teams, as was the case with Red Star Belgrade (the serbian team) and Dinamo (the croatian team). According to Foer, “a brawl engulfed the entire stadium, with the combatants identified by the color of their shirts” (Foer 2010, pg. 16). The stadium unrest was part of an ethnic war in Yugoslavia, as the stadium was previously equipped to prepare for a brawl of the ethnicities. The two teams had conflicting ethnic identities that led to chaos in the stadium.

In creating two separate entities, security communities may form. The Jewish soccer club called HaKoah took athletes from its other boxing and wrestling clubs that the team had, and turned them into bodyguards (Foer 2010, chapter 3). The bodyguards formed a security community, so that they could provide protection to Jewish fans in case antisemitic tensions would rise to an unsafe level. To protect people that hold the same identity from violence and civil unrest is to form a security community.

  Constructivists also look at the idea that society is socially constructed. This idea can be applied to soccer as the teams and their associated cultures can also be socially constructed. The Celtics were created because the Catholics were afraid that members of their community were being converted to Protestantism. The Protestants had wealth and soup kitchens to attract Catholics and influence them. To unite the Catholic community, the Celtics were formed and worked/played hard to create their own success. As the Celtics became more successful, the Rangers were created and eventually became a Protestant institution. The culture of the two teams became polarized as the two teams held on to their religious identities. The Rangers would not hire Catholics and prevented promotion to those who married Catholics. Also, when at the games, fans are expected to associate themselves with a team. Foer was given a scarf to support the Celtics and was forced to stand during a goal (Foer 2010, pg. 51). As a result of these two events, Foer had to support the team even though he intended to be neutral. Due to the religious rivalry between the Celtics and the Rangers, the teams and their cultures are socially constructed. 

Constructivism can be applied to soccer. The teams have identities, create a “self” and “Other”, form security communities, and socially construct the societies around them. The teams can represent states as they control the territory of their stadiums.