Die Olympischen Spiele als Katalysator für Reformen?

Das Magazin Harvard Business Review hat Tarun Khanna, Professor für Verwaltungsangelegenheiten in der Wirtschaft, zum Thema befragt, ob die Olympischen Spiele in Peking zu Reformen in China führen:

With China hosting the Summer Olympic Games starting this week, some reformers see an opportunity to use the world stage as a platform to pressure the country's leadership into expanding social freedoms. Judging by recent news, they don't have much to cheer about. China has reportedly backed off an earlier pledge to give reporters covering the Olympics unfettered access to the Web. At the same time, it accused the Bush administration of politicizing the Games after the United States criticized China's policies on human rights. ... Khanna: Outside pressure can be a useful catalyst, but probably more so when used to feed internal constituencies for change, and less so when used confrontationally. What is quite interesting is how even ordinary citizens have taken umbrage at some of the so-called politicization of the Games. We should think about what this means. It suggests that purely raining on the Chinese parade isn't going to have the intended effect. It has to be combined with other action. ... it is forcing China to learn how to deal with the "softer" side of development, something that its neighbor, India, has been much better at. After all, we are discussing the Olympics, are we not, in a spirit of constructive engagement? That's a good sign, as are the debates within China that are prompted by the Olympics. Unsavory incidents, prompted by any side, will only set back the cause of promoting continual development in China, so we can all hope these do not come to pass