Major political changes within the last few years have had a huge impact on international relationships and possibilities for travel. This book attempts to examine the political factors which are changing the context within which academic mobility occurs. The end of the Cold War has given rise to the political phenomenon of ethnicity and the disintegrtion of larger countries. At the same time, a wide variety of technological and sociological trends mean that our perception of the world goes beyond the boundaries of the state: computerisation and improved international comm8unication and transportation mean that journeys to distant destinations can now be completed in an matter of hours, whilst our access to information has become almost instantaneous.