This text investigates the increasing "globalization" of the world - the ever-increasing international and transnational economic, political and cultural interdependence. Processes of global integration and fragmentation of political, economic and cultural structures spur local and regional conflicts, and dislocations are counterbalanced by moves towards unification, integration and co-operation. This is a multi-disciplinary assessment from a group of scholars of how globalization has affected established paradigms, and a discussion of what impact it has on Europe.