Abstract
This chapter analyses the recent trend of Eurasian states to host significant international sporting events to examine whether mega events in Eurasia are mechanisms of norm diffusion. In particular, it looks at discourses of human rights leading up to the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014 as reflective of the place of China and Russia in the world order and the normative expectation that Russia and China would be socialized and ‘civilized’ through sport. The chapter briefly analyses human rights complaints against China in the lead-up to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and finally offers possible reasons why more protests occurred before Beijing 2008 than Sochi 2014.
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Arnold, R. (2016). Mega Events as Agents of State Socialization: Human Rights Protests in Beijing, 2008, and Sochi, 2014. In: Makarychev, A., Yatsyk, A. (eds) Mega Events in Post-Soviet Eurasia. Mega Event Planning. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-49095-7_2
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