[LINK] "Olympic politics"

[rfmcdonald]

Henry Farrell at Crooked Timber has a post exploring the interesting new politics of the opposition to the Beijing Olympics. The boycotts of the 1980 Moscow Olympics and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics were driven by interstate rivalries, but the ongoing mass protests about the Beijing Olympics are driven by what looks to be a mobilized civil society. As he concludes, "we are seeing how public opinion and organized cross-national opposition can create significant constraints on the ability of leaders to respond to what they see as the geostrategic necessity of keeping China happy."