QATAR'S 2022 FIFA WORLD CUP: SPORTS DIPLOMACY, SOFT POWER AND THE RECONFIGURATION OF GLOBAL NARRATIVES

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on analyzing how Qatar utilized soft power projection, geopolitical influence and strategic sports diplomacy as a tool via the 2022 FIFA World cup. Qatar was the first Arab and Middle Eastern country to host the tournament, it came under global scrutiny and negotiation of many political, diplomatic and cultural issues. This thesis closes this disparity by looking at how Qatar used the World Cup to counter Western criticism, alter foreign impressions, and support regional leadership. Three key questions that guide this research are as follows, (1) how did Qatar apply the World Cup as a soft power instrument? (2) How did any of this respond to Western criticism? Using what tactics? (3) How is the Qatari approach different from previous Global South hosts? In order to do this, the study uses a multi-method approach comprising autoethnography, discourse analysis, and comparative case studies and by means of media discourse analysis, official policy papers, and qualitative insights from event stakeholders. All the results reveal that Qatar took full advantage of the hosting of this World Cup to challenge the postcolonial narratives, to promote the sports-based diplomacy, and to compensate for the Western bias against the Qatari host, especially over the labor rights and government integrity issues. Three academic fields benefit significantly from this work. Through the soft power theory, Joseph Nye's worldview is broadened with the demonstration of how minor governments can use mega events as tools of international diplomacy. It demonstrates how Qatar challenged the Orientalist notions and became a regional leader through contestations in postcolonial and Gulf studies. Both policy recommendations and suggestions for next Global South hosts are also offered in this thesis based on a policy-based paradigm of diplomatic and sustainable event hosting in mega-event governance. In addition to this theoretical value, this study has policy ramifications for sport's governing bodies, pertinent host countries, and international organizations. The novelty of this thesis lies in providing a new paradigm for small-state diplomacy in relation to global sports governance, international relations and soft power in a multipolar world, which urges further academic debates in the junction of these three venues.