Every year the world becomes smaller as advances in communication, speedier travel, and the evolving global economy bring nations into constant, and often uncomfortable, connection. Some societies will thrive as a result, others will decline. What determines whose values will prevail? What will be the future of the world's diverse cultures and traditions? The examples in this book vividly illustrate the urgency of the need to understand what is happening to us. While our diplomats seek to find solutions within an international legal framework, the complex day-to-day dramas are played out by individuals struggling with unprecedented pressures. Learning about conflicts in other cultures-conflicts our own culture has often helped to bring about-can help us to understand the situations in which we find ourselves. In the process it can reveal what we have lost and what we must relearn.