The Olympics: Culture vs. Institutions James Raymond Vreeland, Georgetown University Korea University Summer Campus Faculty Global KU Frontier Spirit Aug 2009

The course take-away: Institutions matter… The ways countries interact in the international arena partly depends on their institutional context. What is an institution? –A set of rules (structures/constraints/mechanisms) that govern the behavior of a given set of actors in a given context. –(An equilibrium)

What international institutions do Cooperation – especially coordinating actors on Pareto superior equilibria in prisoner-dilemma-esque situations Commitment –Hands tying of present government (two level game) – change the payoffs for other veto players –Hands tying of future governments – LOCK-IN! –Hands tying of present governments – signaling resolve to foreign and/or domestic audiences Laundering / Dirty work (A 3 rd -party source of information)

Culture vs Institutions

The Olympics : an international institution dedicated to peace Fahey argues there are 6 conditions for peace : 1.athletic competition 2.intellectual discourse 3.artistic celebrations 4.trade agreements 5.diplomatic recognition 6.international alliances International Olympic Committee (IOC) founded in 1894 The Olympic flag (1914) includes 5 interlaced rings, representing the union of the 5 continents & the meeting of athletes from throughout the world at the Olympic Games Olympic Charter Article 1 Section 1: The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practised in accordance with Olympism and its values

Do some Olympic games privilege certain countries because of a cultural preference for different sports? The Olympic Games program consists of 33 sports, 52 disciplines and nearly 400 events Does culture determine who wins which games? Does culture determine who wins the most gold medals?

Culture My languages : Spanish, French, (Haitian Creole) 한국말 합니다. 하지만, 지금은 하기 싫어요 Places I’ve gone for work (chronological order): Co-authors: –h–

This class has been different from some others you might take in International Studies because we apply GENERAL theories to specific cases. The cases names do not matter – the theories are meant to apply generically –Recall African Development Bank example We have bravely risk false generalization – (and sometimes are just plain wrong ) in the pursuit of general statements Statements that apply regardless of spatio-temporal dimensions Our goal: Replace proper nouns and dates with the names of variables! Examples: political regime, level of development, party-system, elections, voting-power Non-culturalist (weakly culturalist) approach

The problem with one lens… If you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail Many people rely on cultural lenses, attributing differences in levels of economic development, political regime, crime rates, gender inequality to “culture” This class has attempted to provide you a non-cultural lens, where we attempt to explain differences across countries & regions to individual incentives and constraints, which are largely shaped by institutions or other structural features

Culturalist explanations? Does culture explain? “They are different because of culture” = “They are different because they are different” WHY ARE THEY DIFFERENT?

What does it mean “to explain”?

Nomothetic (law-like) vs. Idiographic (descriptive) approaches Law-like statement: –Whenever & wherever X occurs, X is in a certain relation to Y. Descriptive statement: –Specifies spatio-temporal locations and makes all subsequent propositions relative to these parameters.

EXAMPLES OF THESE KINDS OF STATEMENTS:

Law-like statements: A particle to which no force is applied will move with constant velocity in a straight line. E=mc 2

Descriptive statements: In Africa during the early 1960s, ethnically based parties entered situations of violent conflict. In Chile, 1973, the military staged a coup subverting this Latin American democracy. In the US, 2000, the 2 major presidential candidates, Bush & Gore, offered remarkably similar policy platforms to the electorate.

We can easily apply law-like statements to particular cases… A particle to which no force was applied in Africa during the early 1960s moved in a straight line with constant velocity. In Chile, E equaled mc 2 in True - but redundant - statements.

But some would judge the following “improper” because people don’t behave in a universal fashion the way “particles” do. Poor democracies in which all parties are ethnically-based are unstable. Polarization of the legislature in poor democracies causes regime breakdown. Candidates in a 2-party system will adopt the preferences of the median voter.

We have taken a law-like approach to what international institutions do: Cooperation – especially coordinating actors on Pareto superior equilibria in prisoner-dilemma-esque situations Commitment –Hands tying of present government (two level game) – change the payoffs for other veto players –Hands tying of future governments – LOCK-IN! –Hands tying of present governments – signaling resolve to foreign and/or domestic audiences Laundering / Dirty work (A 3 rd -party source of information)

Alternative (also valuable) approach: History of international organizations But sometimes – especially for introductory students – this type of explanation tends to focus on cultural variables more than institutional variables (Aside: This, of course, does not have to be the case – consider the work of economic historian Barry Eichengreen)

Does culture ever matter? Sports? What predicts Olympic medal count? –GDP, Communist dictatorship, host country – – But specific sports? –United States, China and Gold Medals in soccer??? Not part of our cultures so we’re not good at it?

USA has, arguably, the most successful soccer program in the world 2008: gold 2004: gold 2000: silver 1996: gold World Cup: Germany & US 2 each Really???... WOMEN’S SOCCER! Why? Culture?… or Title IX? 1972: A federal law granting girls and women in high schools and colleges the right to equal opportunity in sports

Title IX in action!

The USA does not value soccer The USA does value women’s/girl’s athletics Institutional explanation for American dominance of women’s soccer Scholarships*** (  health, fun, self-esteem)

Presumably, using public funds to promote sports is intended to produce a healthier, happier, and more psychologically balanced population. How can you achieve these goals if you only invest in the athletics of half of your population? (you can’t) The USA has an institutional solution (Title IX) which is upheld by other institutions (independent judiciary)

Consider another (seemingly unrelated) example…

Germany, the United States & bankruptcy Why is bankruptcy tolerated in the USA but not in Germany? Different cultures? What is the #1 reason for bankruptcy in the USA? MEDICAL BILLS Here the USA is failing to properly invest in the health of its population, and the price is great uncertainty in credit markets!

Puzzles Which countries do the best in athletics? Which countries do the best in women’s athletics? Which countries have the lowest rates of personal bankruptcy? Which countries have the best health care? Is the answer to these questions “culture”?

Culture is malleable Study the incentives and constraints of actors

Research project What predicts WOMEN’s Olympic medal count?... Check back here in a few years:

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