Link To Article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/28/saudi-arabia-selected-to-host-world-expo-in-2030
Saudi Arabia is set to host another event, the Expo world’s fair, in 2030. This expo happens once every five years which brings in millions of people and billions of investment. Saudi Arabia’s capital city won the vote taken by BIE (Paris-based bureau international) in a landslide beating out Italy and Busan. After Saudi Arabia just hosted the FIFA world cup, it has brought some controversy to how truthful and accurate these votes are. Saudi Arabia needed two thirds of the vote to win which has brought suspicion to the head of the Italian Expo bid who had criticism to say about the decision, “This huge result for Saudi Arabia was unexpected in those proportions” and “It is no longer about the merits but the transactions”. Saudi’s Crown Prince, Mohammed Bin Salman, wanted to host this expo as he has made it a goal to stray away from their dependency on oil and improve the country’s image after the murder of a Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.
This expo is one of many events Saudi Arabia has brought to the country. After seeing this event and the previous world cup being hosted by them, it is clear to see Saudi are trying to modernize themself and become a global power in the world. I find it very intriguing to see how they are achieving these feats through sports and culture in which they seem to be very successful while doing so. I don’t think that they will be able to become as big as other global powers like the US or China because there are too many controversies in the country like dealing with human rights violations, racism, and maybe even rigging lotteries.
Connecting this article to class, I would relate it to the commercial peace theory. The commercial peace theory is the idea that states will cooperate because it is in their own interest for economic prosperity. Saudi Arabia in this situation is a good example because their country has a goal to be economically dependent and strong by the use of hosting this event for other nations.