A World Cup for World Peace: The Positive Impact of Mega-Sporting Events on the Human Rights Record of the Host Country Using the 2022 FIFA World Cup held in Qatar as a Case Study

Abstract

This thesis takes a qualitative approach to prove that hosting a mega-sporting event can have a positive impact on the host country. Relying on the Sports for Peace and Development Theory founded by the United Nations, which asserts that sports have the power to drive social change, community development, peace, and healing, this paper believes that the implementation of a mega-sporting event (MSE) has the power to produce positive change and growth in a previously struggling society. This thesis analyzes two mega-sporting events to highlight the possible impact that a mega-sporting event can have on the host community: the 1995 South African Rugby World Cup which is used as the ideal example for how a MSE can create social change, and the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, which is used as the primary case in question. The 1995 South African Rugby World Cup is significant to this research because it symbolized national unification in a South African society that had previously been subject to racial inequalities of the apartheid regime. Although South Africa officially became a democracy with the election of Nelson Mandela in 1994, the 1995 World Cup allowed for national redemption and a chance to show the global community that South Africa was now a racially united country. Therefore, the 1995 South African Rugby World Cup is used as a model example, as this MSE allowed for racial unity, a new global perspective of the country, and lasting internal political change. The majority of this paper analyzes the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, an event that was widely questioned due to the host country’s rampant human rights abuse record. However, this paper asserts that despite the undoubted mistreatment of minority groups in the country, the 2022 World Cup facilitated massive social progress. Namely, the 2022 FIFA World Cup explicitly led to improvements of Qatar’s human rights record towards migrant workers, women, and the LGBT+ community. In addition, the new innovative and modernized infrastructure built for the World Cup has led to a healthier and more inclusive environment, improving the social well-being of the country. Finally, the 2022 FIFA World Cup has repositioned Qatar in the global community, and essentially rebranded the country. Ultimately, despite the negative media attention that Qatar received due to its systemic discrimination of minority groups in the years leading up to the games, the MSE has contributed to immense social progress in Qatar that will undoubtedly continue in the future. The success of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, paired with the unifying nature of the 1995 Rugby World Cup, can be generalized to prove that hosting a MSE can lead to social change in the host society in a variety of ways. After this thesis proves that hosting a MSE can be a successful political tactic to create growth and development in the host society, this paper concludes with a set of seven possible recommendations for how the 2022 FIFA World Cup could have been improved and how MSEs can maximize their impact on the host community.