Category: World Cup
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The Hard Edge of Soft Power: My keynote at the (Il)liberal Nation Projection symposium
Vitaly Kazakov at the University of Manchester invited me to give one of the keynotes at a symposium he organized. Over two intense and enjoyable days, we explored various national projection strategies from illiberal and democratic states across different contexts, channels, and platforms. It was interdisciplinary, relevant, and exciting. A real honor to attend. I…
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The Promise and Pitfalls of the 2018 Football World Cup in Russia
Note: this was originally slated to be a commentary piece for a non peer-reviewed expert journal that shall remain nameless. For reasons I still don’t understand, the editor never wrote me back after commissioning and receiving the piece. I found it again recently during some computer cleanup, and given that it’s over a year past…
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The Endless Dissertation Desert
If this project were a movie, this would be the part where the main character slogs through the endless desert – I’m thinking Gobi, but feel free to fill in whatever wasteland you wish. Parched, exhausted, merciless sun beating down, shirt wrapped over the head, stumbling down a dune. You know the drill. I have…
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2026 World Cup: Canada + USA + Mexico
I was asked to write a quick op-ed for USA Today on winning the so-called NAFTA bid for the 2026 World Cup. Obviously I’m hugely in favor of investing in and improving international relations, particularly as the USA is in such a delicate situation at the moment. I have my doubts, however, about the wisdom of…
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The World Cup and/or Urban Development
Mega-events are mega expensive – this is nothing new. And while there are exhaustive lists of the high costs of preparing for the Olympics or the World Cup, there is also evidence that in some cases these are better understood not as the costs of a sporting event, but rather as massive development projects with…
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Sleight of Hand
If you’re feeling critical, it’s easy enough to find problems in the preparations for a World Cup. In seemingly any host nation, journalists and academics alike find ripe fruit in bribery and corruption scandals, tales of misused funds and human rights violations, busted budgets, and the sad parade of white elephant stadiums. In this, unfortunately,…
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Russia’s World Cup: Stadium and Urban Development in Ekaterinburg
Here is another article I wrote for Futblograd.com, this time focusing on developments in the host city of Ekaterinburg. http://futbolgrad.com/russias-world-cup-stadium-urban-development-ekaterinburg/
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Russia’s 2018 World Cup – A Conversation Beyond Sport
An article I wrote for Futbolgrad.com about some issues to look for in the 2018 World Cup. http://futbolgrad.com/russias-2018-world-cup-conversation-beyond-sport/