The Olympics And International Order, Part 3

The Olympics And International Order, Part 3, Forbes, August 2, 2016, "For the past two days, I’ve been commenting on the relationship between the Olympic Games and international order. On Sunday, I summarized the founding ideology of the modern Games, which were, in a word, supposed to promote a particular conception of civilization. On Monday, I explored how the idea of the civilized nation fit into this framework. But of course, the idea of the nation-state implies the concept of patriotism — or nationalism. The Olympics have never quite known what to do with nationalism. On the one hand, the modern Games were supposed to reinforce national loyalties in an era when they seemed threatened by mass movements such as socialism. On the other hand, nationalism was supposed to be a tolerant force, and to be embodied in a civilized nation that accepted and embodied Western institutions and ideas about world order."