THE AUTHORITARIAN'S GUIDE TO FOOTBALL: THE REACH AND REPERCUSSIONS OF QATAR'S SPORTS EMPIRE.

FIFAs decision to award the 2022 World Cup to the nation of Qatar stunned many who believed a Gulf city-state was incapable of hosting a global mega event. Their reactions underscore the wide-ranging assumptions analysts hold about what it ineans to be small, yet still exercise influence, in international affairs. A closer look at Qatar's case reveals how rising authoritarianism and deepening internationalization are reshaping world politics in ways favorable to states of diminutive stature. This paper takes up that cause by providing the most comprehensive picture to date of Qatar's vast investments in global sports, particularly football. These investments, which span the value chain of sports, illustrate the ways iii which states, especially authoritarian ones, are leveraging cross-border connections to advance their objectivesoften to the detriment of their democratic, and even autocratic, counterparts. Qatar's outsize influence offers policymakers a primer on the exercise of sharp power-and sports fans, a lesson in the practice of sportswashing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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