The seemingly positive effects of globalization

It has been often observed that the world of sports tends to transcend politics when those two worlds intersect. This is evident when analyzing race relations in America and seeing how athletes such as Jackie Robinson and Jesse Owens became symbols of racial equity and progress. This is why I see How Soccer Explains the World by Frank Foer as particularly interesting when analyzing the effects and prevalence of globalization. In the chapter How Soccer Explains Islam’s Hope, Foer shows how the game of soccer, through globalization, affected Iran’s cultural identity and promoted secular nationalism, which contested traditional Islamic belief. I believe soccer’s popularity through globalization can have major impacts on cultures' traditional practices without completely uprooting the culture’s identity. But this is a difficult balance to strike and shows some of the negative aspects of globalization. However, I do believe globalization through exposure of western, liberal ideals is partially responsible for the protests and uprisings associated with the Arab Spring.

As Foer explains in his book, the popularity of soccer and the prosperity Iran enjoyed because of the success of their national team lead women across the country to protest the laws the forbade women from entering the stadium to celebrate. There were demonstrations across the country, and Foer says that a “football revolution” had taken place. Western liberal democracies would view Iran’s regulations as backward and undemocratic. And it took the exposure to the west and western ideals through soccer to show the people, or at least the women, of Iran that the suppressive natures of their laws were not ideal because they could not celebrate their team’s success. As Foer put it, people realized they could challenge their tyrannical leaders, which is something that liberal democracies hold a lot of value in.  Additionally, this kind of uprising and protest was completely independent of an invasion or any political action. There is always a contention of whether or not liberal democracies should intervene in countries that treat their citizens unfairly and deny them rights. However, through globalization, the West can influence other states without having to directly intervene. The popularity of soccer and the shared appreciation across the world provides a platform for people to express their frustration, which a very positive consequence of globalization. However, there is another side to this where it could be taken to the other extreme and countries could lose their sense of cultural identity. In an ideal world, liberal democracies would want states to value liberal, democratic views and at the same time, retain their cultural identity. These two things are difficult to reconcile and shows a drawback to globalization. This is why Foer says that the football (soccer) revolution might be a return to secular nationalism because people are still rising up in the name of their nation, not another like the United States.

The interconnectedness created by soccer can be paralleled to the interconnectedness created by social media during the time of the Arab Spring. I do not believe globalization was solely responsible for the Arab Spring but I do believe technological advances in the form of social media helped globalize the protests that took place throughout the Arab world. Globalization through soccer and social media are very different, however, because soccer tangentially inspired revolution and protest, whereas social media was a tool used to directly pass on influence to other states. The Arab Spring provided western states the opportunity to implement authority over Arab nations, which, as I mentioned before, has its benefits and drawbacks.