ABSTRACT
During the last decades of the twentieth century, the world witnessed a rapid turn of the page of history. The former Soviet Union disintegrated, the European Union was formed, NAFTA (North American Free Trade Area) was established, ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) appeared and China emerged; each of these events influenced the others and shook up the old geopolitical, economic and cultural orders. In academia, rapid developments in biochemical sciences and technologies, nanotechnology, telecommunication technology, cognitive science, etc., spurred the knowledge-based economy and strengthened the trend toward globalization – through which the rich and powerful countries increasingly control and exploit the poor and weak ones.
