IT wouldn’t be entirely wrong to say that gone are the days when nukes, artillery and geo-strategic locations were the determinant of a state’s influence, power and reputation. Today, our multi-polarized world is witnessing a paradigm shift and the old edifice of hard power is crumbling in the face of more tactical and influential soft power gimmicks. Lately, we’ve seen a slew of countries that are economically independent, venturing into this territory of global politics with huge and variable ambitions. Ambition to launder their image, diversify, cement their power and most importantly, remain popular among their domestic audience. Although, there are many cases in point to discuss as a reference. But let’s stick to a few.
“Saudi Arab has spent an extortionate amount of $6.3 bn in sports deals since early 2021,” a headline that has been making rounds for quite some time now. They have been pouring in billions from its Public Investment Fund- a state-owned sovereign wealth fund chaired by Muhammad Bin Salman, in its Sports. From Golf to Soccer to being a host of two heavyweight boxing fights, multiple WWE shows and a Formula 1 Grand Prix held in Jeddah in 2021- all these compound into a consequential part of Vision 2030. But what does it mean for a nation that is the flag bearer of oil-producing countries?
While the West is denouncing this sports splurge as an attempt to sports wash controversies the country is mired in, however, for Muhammad Bin Salman (popularly known as MBS) this is the most viable way to diversify the economy, to re-brand Saudi Arabia from a religious country to a tourism hub, to wash off the accusations of involvement in the murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi and most importantly to be seen as a leader, by its youth, as a man who thinks for them and is like them. This is the ambitious endeavour by the most powerful man of Saudi Arabia, to use the soft power of sports to achieve its hardline goals.
Qatar is another strong contender who gained prominence after the Football World Cup 2022. The World Cup was fraught with criticism but catapulted Qatar to a distinguished position on the world stage. Qatar has been called out for its callous treatment of labour, bribery, abuse and other human rights concerns, yet nothing stopped them from hosting the, widely perceived, Greatest Football World Cup ever. However, for Qatar, it neither began nor stopped with sports. Qatar first made the waves on February 29/2020 when it provided the platform for an agreement widely acknowledged as the Doha Peace Agreement reached between America and the Afghan Taliban, an agreement that ended the 20 years long invasion and exploitation of a nation by a superpower. Additionally, just last month two other archrivals America and Iran swapped five prisoners after Qatar brokered a deal between the two. Though, against the backdrop of these brokered deals lye many actors and factors but Qatar was smart enough to fetch its due share of limelight.
Likewise, many other countries have begun to take soft power very seriously. Be it China, which has been courting the Middle Eastern countries quite for some time and assisted in inking a deal between Saudi Arab and Iran or take India which hosted the G20 Summit this year and strongly advocated for African countries’ inclusion in BRICS, as to be seen as a country with great potential and a big brother who thinks for the underdeveloped. It is to bear in mind that all these actions could have far greater reasons and goals, but this is a significant indicator of how countries, no matter the geography and size, are hungry to expand their clout, to be perceived as likable and to lure the vulnerable countries to their camps.
The question arises can Pakistan ever take centre stage in this global world order? Can we flex our soft power muscles to gain hardcore advantages? The short-term answer is NO! A country whose economy is in doldrums, which has always banked on its geo-strategic location and played poorly with geopolitics, whose domestic issues have made it myopic and lastly whose foreign policy has past its shelf life is not in a position to broker, sports wash, or advocate for its right let alone for others. Pakistan is in a dire need to overhaul its foreign policy. The leaders of the country, be the ones residing in Pindi or Islamabad have to come out of this illusion that our location would be evergreen, that we’ll be the blue-eyed country for lenders and investors and that our nuclear warhead will enable us to win every war front. This delusional mindset must be changed soon!
—The writer is a Digital Customer Service Associate, based in Sharjah Dubai.
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