Glasgow and Conflict

There are many reasons that two states may choose to go to war. In the interconnected world we live in today, the constant clashing of ideals, cultures, and religions has resulted in numerous conflicts between nation states and their people. While some conflicts occur because of security or power struggles between states, others can occur because of pressure form the citizens of these states. Often times, states are born out of a group developing their own identity. While some become formal, nation-states, others remain large groups of people with common interests looking to expand their identity and their culture. No part of Foer’s book exemplifies these groups and the struggles and conflicts between them better than when the author examines the Celtic and Ranger football teams in Glasgow, Scotland. While the two clubs and the fans that follow them may not be an actual state, the different interactions between both bases closely resembles that of rival states.

            Often times, the people of a state become unruly and need a distraction. If they are not provided an outlet for their pent up anger, they could lash out at their own government. This situation is when we see the leaders of the state start an international conflict, in order to take away from their own domestic woes. This “waving of the flag” can be seen in countries such as China, where nervous leaders often feel they must flex their country’s international muscle in order to please its people. In Foer’s book, the football clubs are no different. Foer explains how the stadiums will often play songs that rally the fans against the opposing team in order to drum up some life from the spectators—especially if the home team is not doing well.

            In addition to internal pressures, some states, both historically and even today, will fight based on religious or idealistic differences. There have been countless wars, some which are arguably still ongoing, which were started because of the zealous religious beliefs of two groups that were located relatively close to each other. The reason these religious states go to war is because one feels that in order to ensure the security and long term survival of their beliefs, they must get rid of or gain more power over another religious state. Such conflict is obviously seen as Foer recounts his experiences in Glasgow on game day. Countless fans, historically fueled by a religious feud, clash in frequent and often violent disputes over which team is better and who has bragging rights over the area. Often times, members of the rival faction feel threatened by the “encroachment” of the other side on their territory. The same is true for religious groups and states in general. Close proximity to those with different ideas threatens security that poses greater risk for conflicts.

            While all sports teams have their rivalries, it is not often that one explains international conflict as well as that which is examined by Foer. Having family who live in Glasgow, Foer paints a somewhat accurate picture of what this rivalry entails. It is interesting, but perhaps obvious to make the connection between one of the world’s most popular sports and the world itself when it comes from conflict. With so many “states”, ideas, traditions, and cultures, it is perhaps one of the best case studies for international relations.

            

Globalization--How Soccer Explains the World

Foer does a phenomenal job in his analogy of comparing the game of soccer to globalization in his novel How Soccer Explains the World. Soccer is one of the few if not only sport that is played all over the world and it is open to everyone and anyone regardless if you are male, female, young or old and every game is open for everyone to view and scrutinize. Like most aspects of the world, soccer is a male-dominated sport, and adult male soccer receives more attention than women’s soccer does. Like with most governments in the world, there are many critics (citizens) constantly complaining about decisions made by government officials, this is similar to what occurs in a soccer match when fans are angry at certain calls that the referees make and yelling at them to make better decisions.

            One thing to consider with globalization is the fact that America is a world power and likes to uphold this prestigious title and like America everyone else seeks to be the best. This is one of the major challenges in globalization because while it is usually more efficient for countries to come together and work on the product that they are best at producing, the idea of comparative advantage does not always seem ideal to everyone. If certain products are more attractive to one country than the other certain countries will not acknowledge it even though it could benefit countries globally.  America is not globally known to be successful in soccer and as a result of that it is not a popular sport here even though it is huge in almost every other part of the world.  Likewise with soccer, there are a few countries that cooperate with “globalization” and we see this during the national soccer matches primarily because they are players who are from one country but play on another soccer team because their skills are more useful for that team. For example, Lionel Messi is a native citizen from Argentina and he is the captain for their national team, but he also plays as a member of the Spanish club FC Barcelona soccer team.

            Economies in various parts of the world have been suffering drastically  and as a result countries care to do what is best for their country in order for them to recover and achieve success. Some countries care about nationalism more than they care about humanitarianism or the idea of various countries coming together to increase economic efficiency. This defeats the purpose of globalization because of the fact that many countries refuse to cooperate, the resulting factor is failure of globalization. This is similar to soccer because major matches such as the world cup are created in order to unite the world and bring everyone together for competitive fun. However every country has many differences present because of various cultures that are all around the world. Fights break out among players and among fans. Rather than uniting and finding ways to come together, these citizens bicker and grow further and further a part.

            Globalization is nowhere near perfect just as the sport of soccer. In a perfect world the ideal situation would be for everyone to cooperate with what is best for the common good however nationalism and many other factors will always stand in the way.

            

Globalization

 

        According to lecture, globalization is a contested concept categorized into many things. It refers to the connectedness of multiple states as information and resources are easily spread. With the current growth of technology, the world is even more united. The creation of the internet has opened a portal for more people regardless of where they are to be connected and on the same level. Information has become viral as it has spread to every dark corner of the world. The current events that have taken place in Ferguson, Missouri with the Mike Brown trial and riots following the decision shows the opportunity it has given for people to be united. A similar comparison can be looked at Foer’s description of soccer as a method of uniting and funneling emotion into an activity. Taking a look into both situations prove that certain situations and activities do indeed unite the world together. 

The situation at Ferguson, Missouri started with the fatal shooting of an African American teenager male, Mike Brown, by white police officer Darren Wilson on August 9, 2014. This spurred protests, civil unrest, and debate about law enforcement relationship with African Americans. This particular situation was looked closely by news stations and social media. The recent non-guilty verdict spurred even more debate resulting in riots immediately after. The situation at Ferguson was recognized all over the world. Even in London felt the rage of Ferguson, conducting their own protest in the city. Media outlets continue to cover the story as it reaches abroad shedding light towards the United States racial injustice topic. This undoubtedly shows the connection many people have made from the loss of Mike Brown and the unjust actions on African Americans. Out of disparity, people have joined together to fight for a cause. The riot shows the passion some have for the situation but also the open up an opportunity for some to indulge in criminal activity. Nevertheless, the riots were a joint effort that will be marked in history as a display of a community tied together angered by law enforcement and its inability to reclaim justice. 

According to Foer, soccer is used in explaining the concept of globalization. He elaborates on how these teams develop out of hardships within a country as it is the sport that builds the bridge between people. Throughout vast parts of the world, such as Europe, Latin America, and Africa, violence has become part of soccer’s culture (pg.13) It gave a reason for fans to hate other teams who could be of a different race and from another country. It allowed for aggressive behavior towards others categorizing it as radical nationalism. Soccer enabled the world to use existing ideologies as they face the rest of the world. Soccer became a place where it was accepted to display racial hate and violence uniting people of certain countries that had faced many hardships economically and politically with attacks from other parts of the world. This sport allowed to bring the worst out of people yet it still united them. Ethnic hatred is sternly persistent in soccer its one of the reasons this sport accumulated to what it is now (pg. 39). Even anti-semitism is racism that was executed through soccer (pg.69). Foer explains the united feelings towards blacks, explaining that soccer allowed hatred for the race to carry over through the years replacing Jews as the primary object of European hate (pg.71). All of these things are reasons of how people united as they all had common feelings/intentions that they embarked on. 

Both the Ferguson situation and Foer’s soccer theory of globalization are somewhat linked. They both work as funnel for hidden emotions to spur, as well as, give the opportunity take feel in control. People are united for a common purpose, as each situation serves as a limelight for hidden desires. Another important connection is that both soccer and Ferguson have spread to many parts of the world allowing even those in foreign parts to join in the efforts. The most important thing is that both these situations connected people on some type of level using emotion as the bearer. As globalization is focused on the concept of connectedness, both these situations prove in some aspect that they are indeed examples of globalization. 

How Soccer Explains the World

How Soccer Explains the World

            Foer’s interpretation of globalization is represented through his writings about soccer and how the game of soccer demonstrates world politics. In other words, thee game of soccer, the players, and the fans all represent international relations between states and regions. Historically soccer is the most popular sport that any and everyone can play no matter how much money someone has. All a person needs is a ball, legs and a piece of open land. Because of the simplicity of the sport everyone can take part in it whether it is from the field or from the sidelines, and that is the same way that international relations work. There are the political figures constantly at work making “legitimate” decisions for the state while the citizens provide their own sideline comments and demonstrations for what they believe, and the army fights for the rights of the state they represent.

            Foer specifically talks about how globalization is failing and its attempt to eradicate hatred in a world where everyone is against each other is not working correctly. Rivalry between cultures is inevitable even within one state. Every state wants to be the best, most advanced and the strongest. Although the main goal of globalization is to have everyone understand and respect other cultures, globalization can potentially have the opposite effect. Each state and its citizens Is determined to prove why they are the best and why everyone should respect their culture, which in turn instead of spreading culture increases the completion for whose culture is the best. In soccer, where it is suppose to be a team, fair play, good sportsmanship sport that is supposed to bring the world together with one common game, the level of completion between nations increases instead. 

            Another issue he addresses, going off of the failure of globalization, is that nationalism and tribalism will keep pushing on especially to spite governments forcing different groups to share uncommon ground. Although there are a lot of different ethnicities and nationalities living in the same place, which should boost globalization, it can have an extreme opposite effect. As evidenced throughout history in Europe with the Holocaust as well as racism against African Americans in America, just because people are living in the same country does not automatically mean they will have the same ideals and vote for the same parties or root for the same teams. Soccer successfully demonstrates this on a smaller scale where different people root for different teams within one city. Especially in England and the rest of the European Union where there are multiple teams for one state, which different people root for and leads people to fight against each other, even with things as simple as sports.

            Foer’s take on globalization through the example of soccer captures the idea of how globalization may be occurring but having the opposite effect of what leaders may have expected. It has raised completion on and off fields between states to be the best and strongest team that there is. Soccer is a microcosm of what the world of international relations is really like.

China's Manipulation

China and It’s Manipulated Currency

                         As has been discussed in class, countries can choose a variety of ways in which they determine the value of their currency.  A country may chose a fixed rate system to be sure of the value of its currency at any given time and have the ability to predict what that value may be in the near future. Yet this plan lacks flexibility and the ability to adopt any kind of monetary policy. A country may also choose a flexible rate system; allowing their currency to float on the open market. No matter what the choice is, the value of a country’s currency and the price of their domestic goods abroad and the price of their imports will highly depend on which system they choose and how that system determines the value. While most countries let their currency float in the market and adapt to the changes in depreciation and appreciation, some countries do not. There has been a lot of criticism coming from the international community towards China. Many say that China is flip=flopping between systems and using other means of manipulating its currency in order to gain a favorable trade advantage in the world.

            People may ask, “What is the advantage of China having a low-valued currency?”  The answer is that, with a depreciated currency, Chinese-made goods will cost less (and sell more) in foreign countries ultimately making them more money and allowing them to obtain a very high trade surplus. Yet how does China keep its currency at such a low value? Doesn’t it float on the open market? Shouldn’t it naturally change and increase as they gain more and more of a trade surplus? The answer is that China uses the money it makes from its exports to buy foreign currencies (mostly U.S. dollars) and keep them in higher demand, thus making them worth more. In addition, China’s currency is pegged to the U.S. dollar. So, as China continues to drive the value of the dollar up, the value of its own currency will be relatively less. China can thus keep their currency at a desired value simply by buying U.S. dollars.

There continues to be criticism of China’s monetary policy in the international community. It has come to the forefront of many political debates both here in the U.S. and across the globe. While there may not be any way to take direct action yet, it is time for world leaders to come together and hold China accountable for the way they have continuously manipulated their currency in order to gain and hold an unfair advantage over international trade. There must be a mechanism put in place that allows the IMF to take swift and decisive action to stop these kinds of policies.