The end of this century has witnessed dramatic changes in morality,
history and geography. These changes were felt throughout the world, and
also across the entire gamut of professional concerns. Even relatively
remote and seemingly insulated activities such as science and technology
have experienced, and up to a point contributed to, these dramatic
changes. This volume presents a series of views on the effect of these
changes on science and technology, and more specifically, on the
international diffusion of new technologies. These views come from a
variety of fields, among them history and sociology of science,
political science, information sciences, marketing. Yet, most authors
share an interest in science policy studies which permeates this
collection. It would be fair to say that this volume belongs to the
intellectual domain known as STS, i. e. studies in Science, Technology
and Society. The authors come from nine countries, and their
contributions are expected to reflect this diversity. It is well known
that the dominant lingua franca in the end of the 20th century is Broken
English, with the possible exception of a minority of native English
speakers some of whom fail to learn this new language. An attempt was
therefore made throughout this volume to conform to a certain standard
of English usage and, at the same time, to preserve the local flavour of
expression, and the stylistic and cultural dimensions of each chapter.