10 results on '"Wolfe, Sven Daniel"'
Search Results
2. Blurry Microgeographies of the New Normal: Grappling with COVID-19 Disruptions, Disgust and Despair in Switzerland
- Author
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Wolfe, Sven Daniel, Brunn, Stanley D. (ed.), Gilbreath, Donna (ed.), University of Zurich, Brunn, S D, Gilbreath, D, and Wolfe, Sven Daniel
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10122 Institute of Geography ,910 Geography & travel ,Minor theory, Micropolitics, Everyday life, Switzerland - Abstract
This paper investigates the adjustments to everyday life among ordinary Swiss residents from a variety of backgrounds after a year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Grounded in an appreciation of the quotidian, the paper explores how pandemic-related disruptions have destabilized the traditional boundaries between work and leisure, producing a blurry everyday life that combines labor with home time and, subsequently, results in confused and uncertain reactions to the challenges of prolonged lockdown. This has been exacerbated by a fragmented government response due to Swiss federalism, combined with a climate of poor communication from authorities. The paper highlights how respondents from all corners of this small but diverse country experience feelings of fatigue, frustration, and isolation that transcend linguistic, cultural, and socio-economic divides.
- Published
- 2022
3. 'Fanatic Energy in the Wrong Places': Potemkin Neoliberalism and Domestic Soft Power in the 2018 Men’s Football World Cup in Russia
- Author
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Wolfe, Sven Daniel
- Subjects
Mega-events ,Russia ,Neoliberalism ,Soft Power ,Potemkinism - Abstract
This thesis uses the 2018 World Cup in Russia to engage with the processes of neoliberal restructuring and the conception of soft power. Based on a comparison of the host cities of Ekaterinburg and Volgograd, it unpacks the World Cup at multiple scales of analysis and offers a light and revisable framework for understanding mega-events. Grounded in primary qualitative and secondary documentary data, the thesis demonstrates multiple dimensions of Potemkinism in the articulation of this World Cup. Inspired by but moving beyond traditional post-colonial thought, it attempts to make good on the premise of theorizing from anywhere, making a case for the relatively invisible cities of the Global East in a landscape of urban theory dominated by the hegemonic North or the subaltern South. This ambition represents the overall frame for the thesis, while the work itself focuses more specifically on the planning and impacts of hosting the World Cup. This work is composed of two central thrusts. Within an understanding of mega-events as fundamentally urban events, the first thrust explores hosting as the vanguard of neoliberal restructuring, one of the traditional means of making sense of mega-events. In this view, bidding and hosting are seen as a strategy for inter-urban competition and a ploy to attract increased flows of tourists and capital. This is understood as one of the markers of a shift to a more entrepreneurial mode of urban governance and is part of wider global political economic restructuring that de-emphasizes the national in favor of regional or municipal scales. Using Neil Brenner’s conceptualization of rescaled competition state regimes, this part of the thesis explores how rescaling worked on the ground in Russia and demonstrates that these processes of neoliberalization are not as easily understood as they might first appear. Instead, what is revealed in the articulation of the Russian World Cup is a seemingly paradoxical combination of national state-led projects to develop the peripheries in regionally and municipally specific ways, for the purposes of interurban differentiation and competition. The thesis proposes the notion of Potemkin neoliberalism to make sense of these seeming paradoxes and, further, traces some of the uneven developments within the host cities. This is framed within an emphasis on the superficial rather than the substantive, meaning an attention towards aesthetics and appearance rather than on structural reforms and durable infrastructural improvements. The second thrust investigates Joseph Nye’s notion of soft power, which is another traditional way of understanding the rationales for hosting mega-events. Soft power analyses typically frame hosting through the lens of foreign policy, a view that tends to ignore the domestic component entirely. Separate from this, some mega-event studies focus on hosting as a strategy for nation- or identity building, but typically these do not situate this domestic concern within the conceptual apparatus of soft power. Combining these two approaches, this thesis takes the Russian World Cup as a primarily domestic affair, both to develop the urban peripheries (as demonstrated in the first thrust), and to inculcate certain soft power narratives within the domestic population. Conceptualizing the narrative project as soft power allows a tracing of each element in the soft power equation: narrative generation, the mechanisms of distribution, and the reception (or lack thereof) among host city residents. This is presented as discursive Potemkinism, whereby a certain set narratives were promoted as the official way to understand the mega-event, though with little attention to the realities underneath. Finally, the thesis explores the final element in the soft power equation – the impacts on host city residents – through an attention to the micro level of everyday life. In this, it engages with de Certeau and Lefebvre to create a spectrum of tactics employed by residents to disalienate themselves by various degrees from World Cup developments. The thesis emphasizes the individual and the quotidian to offer a more nuanced, human level approach to understanding mega-event-led urban development. Situated in a relational comparative urbanism that valorizes the Global East, these two thrusts represent the core contributions of this monograph. Overall, the thesis presents an investigation of the 2018 men’s Football World Cup that takes stock of global political economic processes, Russian national state spatial strategies, uneven municipal developments, the creation and distribution of soft power narratives to the domestic audience, and the adoption, reworking, or outright refusal of those narratives among host city residents.
- Published
- 2019
4. Opposing view: Be careful what you wish for, World Cup hosts
- Author
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Wolfe, Sven Daniel
- Subjects
World Cup (Soccer) -- 2018 AD ,Sports tournaments -- Forecasts and trends ,Market trend/market analysis ,News, opinion and commentary - Abstract
Byline: Sven Daniel Wolfe Mega-events such as the Olympics and the World Cup are global celebrations, and it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of the party. [...]
- Published
- 2018
5. World Cup Russia 2018: Already the Most Expensive Ever?
- Author
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Müller, Martin and Wolfe, Sven Daniel
- Subjects
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FIFA World Cup (2018 : Russia) , *STADIUMS , *TWENTY-first century ,RUSSIAN economy - Abstract
At USD $21 billion, the World Cup 2018 in Russia is on course to become the most expensive ever. Cost overruns at this early stage suggest, however, that the final bill will be much higher: the price tag for the 12 stadia has already grown from an initial USD $2.8 billion to now USD $6.9 billion, although construction on most venues has not even started. The projected costs place the Russian stadia among the most expensive worldwide. At USD $11,600, the costs per seat are more than double those in Brazil. In a stagnating ticket market in Russia's premier league, the new venues will exacerbate overcapacities. With the economic outlook for Russia darkening, the World Cup 2018 is likely to become a deadweight to Russian economic development through the misallocation of scarce resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2014
6. Building a better host city? Reforming and contesting the Olympics in Paris 2024
- Author
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Sven Daniel Wolfe, University of Zurich, and Wolfe, Sven Daniel
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Planning and Development ,Monitoring ,Policy and Law ,Public Administration ,Geography ,Geography, Planning and Development ,3321 Public Administration ,2301 Environmental Science (miscellaneous) ,Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,Environmental Science (miscellaneous) ,Management ,10122 Institute of Geography ,3305 Geography, Planning and Development ,2308 Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law ,Olympics ,Paris ,Paris 2024 ,Reform ,910 Geography & travel - Abstract
Many cities have abandoned plans for hosting the Olympics due to crises of high costs, unnecessary infrastructures, and a range of socio-spatial exclusions. These problems stem from conflicts between the short-term needs of the event and the long-term needs of the city. In response, Olympic organizers launched a series of reforms to improve alignment between the Games and the host city. This paper examines these reforms, identifies urban development agendas in preparation for Paris 2024, and explores their implications on selected spaces of urban intervention within Paris. Thinking through rhizomatic philosophy, the paper advocates for a more nuanced approach to exploring the problems and potential of mega-event-led urban development. In so doing, the paper maps organizer and activist assemblages, and posits that efforts at reform are stymied by a too-narrow interpretation of who counts as a stakeholder. Subsequently, the spatial articulations of the mega-event risk perpetuating the exclusions that reform intended to resolve. Ensuring a wider representation of resident voices could help minimize the distance between word and deed in the latest rounds of Olympic reform.
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- 2023
7. ‘For the benefit of our nation’: unstable soft power in the 2018 men’s World Cup in Russia
- Author
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Sven Daniel Wolfe, University of Zurich, and Wolfe, Sven Daniel
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05 social sciences ,3301 Social Sciences (miscellaneous) ,Leisure and Hospitality Management ,Media studies ,030229 sport sciences ,Football ,Soft power ,hegemonic ideology ,mega-events ,World Cup ,Russia ,Tourism ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,10122 Institute of Geography ,1409 Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management ,Intersection ,Tourism, Leisure and Hospitality Management ,Political science ,0502 economics and business ,Situated ,Narrative ,910 Geography & travel ,050212 sport, leisure & tourism ,Social Sciences (miscellaneous) - Abstract
Situated at the intersection of the literatures on soft power and mega- events, this paper explains the production and evolution of the dominant narratives behind the 2018 Men’s Football World Cup in Russia. It begins from the premise that there are multiple unexplored dimensions to the concept of soft power and proposes three advancements: the existence of multiple audiences for soft power narratives, the necessity of examining soft power aspirations in the context of hard power constraints, and the investigation of both of these dimensions with a view that acknowledges the role of time. Exploring both externally and internally targeted narra- tives, this paper demonstrates not only the attempts by Russian autho- rities to construct hegemonic ideology among the domestic population, but also reveals how the interplay of hard power and soft power concerns changed these narratives over time.
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- 2020
8. The great pause: a minor theory exploration of COVID-19 response in Switzerland
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Sven Daniel Wolfe, University of Zurich, and Wolfe, Sven Daniel
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Planning and Development ,2019-20 coronavirus outbreak ,Economics and Econometrics ,History ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,Geography ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,05 social sciences ,Geography, Planning and Development ,0507 social and economic geography ,2002 Economics and Econometrics ,Minor (academic) ,0506 political science ,10122 Institute of Geography ,3305 Geography, Planning and Development ,Pandemic ,050602 political science & public administration ,Ethnology ,910 Geography & travel ,Everyday life ,050703 geography - Abstract
As Europe and the wider world struggles with the COVID-19 crisis, I unpack the impacts of the pandemic on the small, wealthy, and diverse nation of Switzerland. Though deeply intertwined with capit...
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- 2020
9. Crisis Neopatrimonialism : Russia’s New Political Economy and the 2018 World Cup
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Sven Daniel Wolfe, Martin Müller, University of Zurich, and Wolfe, Sven Daniel
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Neopatrimonialism ,Sociology and Political Science ,media_common.quotation_subject ,05 social sciences ,0507 social and economic geography ,Context (language use) ,Football ,0506 political science ,Politics ,10122 Institute of Geography ,3312 Sociology and Political Science ,Political science ,Political economy ,New political economy ,Loyalty ,050602 political science & public administration ,Private money ,910 Geography & travel ,050703 geography ,Public funding ,media_common - Abstract
The economic crisis since 2010 has affected Russia’s political economy by reducing the income available to fund political loyalty—the key mechanism of neopatrimonialism. Through an investigation of key infrastructure development projects, we examine how this crisis has affected the preparations for the 2018 Football World Cup. In so doing we introduce the concept of crisis neopatrimonialism, referring to the political and economic adaptations of a neopatrimonial system in response to economic crisis. Our research uncovered three major adaptations of neopatrimonialism in the context of World Cup preparations: a retreat of private money and concomitant rise in public funding, a reordering of favored elites, and higher costs of loyalty. © 2018 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. FIGURE 1 Russian GDP and GNI/PPP, 2010 – 2015, with predictions through 2017 (indicated by the letter "e"). Adjusted for inflation. Sources: World Bank, Russian Ministry of Economic Development, Vedomosti, Russian Federal State Statistics Service, International Monetary Fund. This work was supported by a Swiss National Science Professorship under grant number PP00P1_144699.
- Published
- 2018
10. 2018 FIFA World Cup: isolating Russia could harm global health
- Author
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Sven Daniel Wolfe, University of Zurich, and Wolfe, Sven Daniel
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medicine.medical_specialty ,International Cooperation ,2700 General Medicine ,Global Health ,Russia ,03 medical and health sciences ,Politics ,0302 clinical medicine ,Environmental protection ,Political science ,Soccer ,0502 economics and business ,Global health ,medicine ,Humans ,Sanctions ,910 Geography & travel ,Aside ,Public health ,05 social sciences ,General Medicine ,Harm ,10122 Institute of Geography ,Political economy ,Isolation (psychology) ,Public Health ,050212 sport, leisure & tourism ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery - Abstract
Western sanctions have isolated Russia from key international systems. Putting aside controversial questions about Russia's motivations for retaking Crimea, their involvement in the Donbas region, or even the potential for sanctions to bring peace, the west faces unexpected health-related dangers in its pursuit of the politics of isolation.
- Published
- 2015
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