ABSTRACT
The beginning of the third millennium bears out Marshall McLuhan’s prophecy in 1962 of the “global village”: the spread of mass media, greater potential for information technology, remarkable geo-political changes affecting nation states and the establishment of new markets. In Europe, these extensive changes, variously described as “globalisation,” “new economy” or “computer/information technology revolution,” imply a “reduction” in distances, stronger ties between different geographical areas, greater mobility, along with new and diversifi ed migration fl ows. However, emigration is no longer a prerequisite for interaction between citizens with different languages, behavior, valor and religions. In a scenario of globalization and interdependence, any person’s life is directly or indirectly infl uenced by contemporaneous events in the rest of the world.
