"Surrogate War:                                         Politics of Conflict in Sports and Space"

States seek avenues of international conflict to satisfy domestic and foreign policy aims within an anarchic world system. The methods of conflict have changed from century to century to encompass different methods of attaining state objectives. Today there exists a lacuna in terms of international contestation in less traditional avenues of state conflict, such as sports competitions and technological development. Extant theories on international relations have broadened their scope to include arms races, economic sanctions, cyber conflict, and other ‘new’ methods of interstate conflict. This study adds to current literature and theoretical trends by shaping a theory on surrogate war that examines state conflict manifested through international contest. While the possible applications are quite broad, this study offers plausibility probes in international sports policy and space policy to demonstrate the application and versatility of surrogate war.

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MODEL ARAB LEAGUE MANUAL

Co-Authored with Holly A. Jordan

This textbook provides a comprehensive overview of the Model Arab League (MAL) programme for first time and returning students. Drawing on over fourteen years of combined experience in successfully leading award-winning MAL delegations, Philip D'Agati and Holly A. Jordan provide students with an introduction to being a delegate and tips on effective research techniques as well as simplifying the complex process of taking on the identity of a state and then representing it effectively in a MAL debate.

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Cold War and the 1984 Olympics: A Soviet-american Surrogate War

During the Cold War, states found alternative means of warring with each other to meet foreign policy goals. Sports competitions, including the right to host events, transformed from celebratory competitions to surrogates for warfare. The battles to host the 1976, 1980, and 1984 Summer Olympics became highly symbolic opportunities for conflict as the two superpowers fought to prove who could provide a better Olympic experience. Using a framework of political theory, D'Agati explains the Soviet boycott of 1984 as the result of a complex series of events and policies that culminated in a strategic decision to not participate in Los Angeles. Original and comprehensive, The Cold War and the 1984 Olympic Games is a significant study for scholars of international relations, Soviet and US histories, sports studies, and anyone interested in the unique politics of the Olympic Games.

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Nationalism on the World Stage: Cultural Performance at the Olympic Games

Beyond the realm of sports and spectacle, states host the Olympic Games for political, social, and cultural reasons. In particular, organizers have used the Olympics as an opportunity to redefine and reassert their national identities through performance. The hosts present an artistic rendering of their national identity to domestic and international audiences through the pageantry of the opening and closing ceremonies.
Nationalism on the World Stage examines the relationship between nationalism and the Olympics by weaving together current understandings of nationalism and applying these notions to displays of national identity at Olympic ceremonies from 1980 to 2006. Using tactics such as historical revision, indoctrination, and custodianship, hosts of the Games have re-told their official state identities and histories through performances. Through examples including the United States, Canada, Norway, Russia, Spain, and Japan, Philip A. D'Agati establishes a new scope of nationalism, cultural performance, and international festival and provides new insights into studies of nationalism.

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"War Games"

State participation in international sports events are more than just a game.  They are a foreign policy tool designed and implemented to meet policy aims in much the same way as war, sanctions, boycotts, blockades and other degrees of international conflict.  While cold war examples are most common (such as the 1980 Winter Olympic Hockey Tournament and the Soviet vs. American Chess championships in the 1950's through 1980's) in the literature, growing evidence that the politicization of Sport continued after the Cold War only serves to demonstrate the deepening power of sport as a tool for international politics.

Unpublished Projects, Theses/Dissertations

A Study of the Soviet Boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympic Games

During the Cold War, competition in sports could be interpreted as a surrogate for warfare. Olympic competition occurred in sport, politics of the IOC and in the bid process to host the games.  These competitions are important facets of the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles summer Olympics.  Through in-depth stud of the Soviet boycott, it will be shown to have been the result of more important issues than bitterness over the American boycott of the 1980 Moscow games or claims that the Soviets feared their athletes would lose.  The contest between Montreal, Moscow, and Los Angeles, to host the 1976 summer Olympics, and the rivalry between Moscow and Los Angeles to host the 1980 summer Olympics reinforced the competitive nature of the Olympics between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R..  The bid process turned the 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics into a competition between the two super-powers to show which political/economic system could put on the "best" games.  A study of the Soviet reasons for the boycott shows that the LAOOC was able to successfully address Soviet concerns over Los Angeles, while Soviet allies discredited the security issue.  This, coupled with a Soviet policy to use sport to display the virtues of the Socialist system, and expected successes of the Los Angeles games, made Soviet participation impossible.

Submitted in 2001 in Partial Fulfillment of my Masters in History.

Ratification Systems: Succesfull Constition-Making in Heterogeneous States

The EU's constitutional moment under the direction of Valery Giscard d'Estaing was in some ways a triumph of federalism while a dismal failure in others.  At the heart of that failure was a ratification system that some thought was too inclusive in its requirements for passage.  Arguing that a Unified Europe could only exist if all states partied to the EU joined willingly.  It echoed tone from the United States Continental Congress where a unanimous vote was required for independence on the grounds that no colony could be torn away from England without their consent.  Both are international metaphors for a challenge at the state level in formation of a new constitutional government.  

Some states succeed in their constitutional moment while others fail. It is of no surprise that homogenous states have an easier time at forming democratic constitutional systems while heterogeneous states have a harder time.  But where can we find the secret math that determines when constitution-making succeeds or fails.  With a careful consideration of Constitutions for the Union of the Comoros, the Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the Russian Federation, Micronesia and more, we find that successful constitution-making occurs in documents that have ratification procedures that are more inclusive.  The less likely fragments within a state are forced into union, the more likely that union is to survive. On the other hand, ratification procedures that are easily undone once adopted are more likely to fail, albeit peacefully. 

Winner of the 2003 Graduate Student Paper Award at Northeastern University