AT CENTURY END - GLOBALIZATION, PARADOXES, AND A NEW POLITICAL AGENDA

The principal world trends at the turn of the century provide the basi s for specifying a new political agenda for both policy-makers and pol itical sociologists. In an age of paradoxes and excess, globalization is countered by cultural identity and fragmentation, the drive for dem ocratization is juxtaposed against pervasive violence and destruction, and population growth and shifts are likely to further widen the gap between Northern Hemisphere countries and those in the South. If the e arth and its people are to survive, policy-makers must take leadership in emphasizing greater balance, responsibility, and cooperative plann ing. Political sociologists' attempts to understand the changing relat ionship between society and politics will be affected as well.