Abstract

Sportswashing is a term used to describe when a country uses strategic investments through international sports as a strategy to alter public perceptions. The most common case is authoritarian regimes engaging in sportswashing efforts to shift attention away from their human rights record or as a reputation management strategy. Countries engage in strategic investments through international sports in efforts to sportswash or deflect attention away from their human rights record. This framing was taken into three different schools of thought: Sportswashing Used as Soft Power for Nation Branding, Authoritarian Legitimacy, and Lack of Global Accountability. This methodology was constructed to tie together: Why do countries engage in sportswashing efforts? This area examines the scenario that countries engage in sportswashing efforts to increase their own soft power influence, exert media control, and deflect attention away from their human rights record with extending their engagement over time due to the success of the tactic. Saudi Arabia seems to be using their engagements through international sports for the ability to acquire increases in their soft power, use event domination in the media to dilute negative press, and engage in event hosting, club ownership, and new league formation in non-media ways of deflecting attention away from their human rights record. Each phase contributed in telling the story of what the implications of Saudi Arabia engaging in international sports brought to their sportswashing efforts, specifically, each phase looks at the progression of how each focus area shaped up through the years and contributed to Saudi Arabia's sportswashing campaign.

Advisor

Kille, Kent

Department

International Relations; Political Science

Disciplines

Political Science

Keywords

Sportswashing, Human Rights Deflection, Soft Power, Media Control, Authoritarian Regime

Publication Date

2026

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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© Copyright 2026 Reese D. Johnson