None of the authors of these papers could have predicted the startling events of September 11, 2001, and the long-term effects of those events on the relationship between the West and the Middle East, when the sessions upon which this book is based were originally conceived. Nevertheless, two concepts that have great immediacy and have now become the current watchwords for the media as well as for academia, globalization and long-term historical processes, are brought together here. The initial promise of modern communications, that of solidifying human bonds throughout the world, seems to have been replaced by the wide and rapid dissemination of destructive technology. Nevertheless, today's political minds still assure us that the more 'connected' societies are the less danger they pose to world peace. Is this, however, a 'new' idea or do those who have a sense of déjà vu about the 'connection = stability' equation have a valid point? The answers to this query are as varied as the disciplines that have been strongly influenced by Manuel Castells' theories contained in his massive work The Network Society-which has been the guiding force behind this volume.