Globalization wields powerful influence over societies and cultures. Business travelers and tourists both observe and distribute new ideas. New ideas, interactions, foods and products are tried, then embraced or discarded. With the internet or satellite television, films, publications, photographs, news reports and cartoons can travel instantly, entertaining or angering audiences around the globe. With social media like Facebook or Twitter, individuals offer news and own instant pronouncements on trends. Whether slowly through immigration or immediately online, these connections bring about some convergence of norms on fashion to human rights while also provoking challenges from traditionalists. A global society has emerged, and it’s tightly linked.

To Shelter Its Cuisine, Italian City Bans Foreign Flavors

Lucca officials gamble that visitors will be content with one version of “authentic” cuisine
Nick Squires
February 23, 2009

Bangladesh’s Challenge

Country is positioned to become a strong economic competitor
Philip Bowring
February 20, 2009

Firewalls to Freedom

Governments can manipulate the internet to limit free speech and dissent
Rebecca MacKinnon
March 9, 2009

Year of the Monkey Has Not Yet Brought Tourism Money

Hong Kong waits for mainland visitors
AFP
January 23, 2004

The Knowledge Economy

The South may appear to have shaken off the colonial North, but in Egypt research is big business and money is influence
Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed
February 25, 2004