ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the 10 selected key global trends of varying strength and maturity, and explains the political, social, economic, and technological development of modern civilization. The liberalization of international economic relations, under the influence of the trends of globalization, democratization, and internationalization, initiated tighter political and economic cooperation between countries with relatively similar cultural, religious, political, and economic characteristic. The failure of dictatorships and the birth of the global emerging market (GEM) became a new triggering strategic event for companies to strategize their internationalization in order to access existing and inexpensive production facilities and infrastructure. While the existence of terrorism and extremism as a global trend is obvious to even the most casual observers of international affairs, it is a particularly challenging phenomenon to analyze. Economic development in the Arctic zones of Scandinavia, Russia, Canada, and Alaska was particularly influenced by the trend of regionalization.
