Globalization's effects on the way people live, play, and learn is difficult to measure but readily apparent in almost all societies across the globe. While McDonald's and Coca-Cola offer standardized products worldwide, food habits are not the only thing affected by our growing interconnectedness. Printed images, movies, books, and ideas have traversed the globe through satellite television and the Internet as well as with travelers and businesspeople. In the process, exposure to news ways of life and ways of thinking have brought about a degree of convergence of norms and attitudes on everything from fashion to human rights. But it has also provoked challenge from traditional cultures and often led to fusion of many influences. The following articles have been assembled to shed light on these and other related issues.

Coping With Digital Revolution: China Offers Green Dam, Iran Faces Neda Guobin Yang YaleGlobal, 23 June 2009 Despite many counter-measures and filters, digital democracy continues to trouble authoritarian regimes

Tear Down This Cyberwall! Nicholas D. Kristof The New York Times, 23 June 2009 Chinese anti-censorship software is helping Iranians

Fermenting a Taste for Kimchi Lee Eun-joo Joong Ang Daily, 23 April 2009 Kimchi could heat up Korea’s export volumes

A Wild Cossack Rides Into a Cultural Battle Ellen Barry The New York Times, 14 April 2009 When movies are an extension of politics by other means

Book Rallying for Social Change Fails to Inspire the Masses Fu Qi and Li Huizi China View, 26 March 2009 Chinese shrug about call for a new world order

NGO 2.0: Using the Web to Reunite Refugees Charles Hawley Spiegel Online, 24 March 2009 Social networking tools allow refugees to find loved ones

These Days, No Reporting Behind a Nation’s Back Anand Giridharadas The New York Times, 18 March 2009 The internet and other new technologies complicate journalistic duties

Population: Some Boom, Some Decline Joseph Chamie YaleGlobal, 18 March 2009 Wildly varying fertility rates among nations threaten global stability

The Globalization of Censorship Christopher Walker The International Herald Tribune, 13 March 2009 British libel law shields any culprits who can afford lawyers

Firewalls to Freedom Rebecca MacKinnon and Evgeny Morozov Project Syndicate, 9 March 2009 Governments can manipulate the internet to limit free speech and dissent

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