The purpose of this study was to explore differences in the perceived consumer problems and concerns between American and Egyptian consumers, as measured by a composite score for perception of problems. The relationships between fourteen independent variables and perceived consumer problems of American and Egyptian consumers also were examined. The independent variables that were studied include: perceived adequacy of income, perceived improvement in living situations, expectations and experiences with products, attitudes toward government, attitudes toward business as consumer protection agencies, attitudes toward consumer education efforts, and demographic variables of gender, age, marital status, presence of children, family annual income, education level, employment status, and university position. Specific objectives of this study were: (1) To determine if there are differences between American and Egyptian consumers in the following areas: perception of consumer problems; concerns related to price, quality, safety, labeling and information, and concerns about the environmental effects of products and their packaging; needs fulfillment related to perceived adequacy of income, needs fulfillment related to perceived improvement in living situations; expectations and experiences with products; attitudes toward consumer protection efforts by government; attitudes toward consumer protection efforts by business; and attitudes toward consumer education efforts. (2) To analyze relationships between perception of consumer problems and concerns and the following: needs fulfillment related to perceived income adequacy; needs fulfillment related to perceived improvement in living situations; expectations and experiences with products; attitudes toward consumer protection efforts by government; attitudes toward consumer protection efforts by business; and attitudes toward consumer education efforts. (3) To investigate the influence of demographic variables of gender, age, marital status, presence of children, family annual income, education level, university position, and employment status on the perception of consumer problems and concerns. Data were obtained through a questionnaire developed by the researcher. The questionnaire was first developed in English, and then translated into Arabic with a back translation check. The reliability of the instrument was tested with a test-retest procedure. A questionnaire, an explanatory cover letter, and a stamped self-addressed envelope, were mailed to 180 randomly selected respondents at Virginia Tech and Radford University. Graduate students assigned at Ain Shams University and Sadat Academy delivered the questionnaires personally to the 180 randomly selected respondents in both universities in Cairo. The completed questionnaires were collected within three weeks after delivery. There were 112 questionnaires returned from Virginia Tech and Radford University, of which 108 were acceptable for analysis (60%). There were 154 questionnaires returned from Egypt, of which 142 were acceptable for analysis (78.8%). Hence, a total of 250 responses were used in the data analysis for an overall return rate of 69.4%. Procedures for statistical analysis involved eight phases including: the reliability analysis, frequency distribution, chi-square, factor analysis, the two-sample independent t-test, stepwise multiple regression, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), and discriminant analysis. Results revealed a statistically significant difference in the total score on consumer problems between the two samples. Also, results showed a significant difference in the total score on consumer concerns related to quality, safety, and labeling and information. However, the variables that were found to discriminate the two samples in order of importance were: perception of consumer problems, concerns for quality, concerns for labeling and information, concerns for safety, and concerns for price. The most important concern for all respondents was quality. The majority of the American respondents perceived that they had more adequacy of income and improvement in living situations than the Egyptian respondents. Also, they conveyed a positive attitude toward government regulations and business efforts to protect consumers' interests as opposed to the Egyptian respondents who conveyed a negative attitude toward the same aspects. / Ph. D.

My thesis examines how metaphors of globalization shape the global governance of the Internet. I consider how, in a short span of time, discussions of the Internet’s globalizing potential have gone from the optimism of the global village to the penchant of the global marketplace to the anxiety of the global war on terror. Building upon Rorty’s theory of metaphors and Foucault’s notion of productive power, I investigate how the shifts in these prevailing metaphors have produced and legitimated different frameworks of global governance. In considering how these patterns of governance have been shaped in the context of a familiar example of globalization, I demonstrate that globalization has an important discursive dimension that works as a constitutive force – not only in Internet governance, but in global governance more generally. By illuminating globalization’s discursive dimensions, this thesis makes an original theoretical contribution to the study of globalization and global governance. It demonstrates that globalization is more than a set of empirical flows: equally important, globalization exists as a set of discourses that reconstitute political legitimacy in more ‘global’ terms. This recasts the conventional understanding of global governance: rather than a response to the challenges posed by the empirical transcendence of territorial borders or the visible proliferation of non-state actors, the aims, institutions and policies of global governance are shaped and enabled by discourses of globalization, and evolve as these discourses change. In short, this thesis provides further insight into globalization’s transformations of state-based political order. It links these transformations to the discursive processes by which systems of global governance are produced and legitimated as sites of power and authority.

My thesis examines how metaphors of globalization shape the global governance of the Internet. I consider how, in a short span of time, discussions of the Internet’s globalizing potential have gone from the optimism of the global village to the penchant of the global marketplace to the anxiety of the global war on terror. Building upon Rorty’s theory of metaphors and Foucault’s notion of productive power, I investigate how the shifts in these prevailing metaphors have produced and legitimated different frameworks of global governance. In considering how these patterns of governance have been shaped in the context of a familiar example of globalization, I demonstrate that globalization has an important discursive dimension that works as a constitutive force – not only in Internet governance, but in global governance more generally. By illuminating globalization’s discursive dimensions, this thesis makes an original theoretical contribution to the study of globalization and global governance. It demonstrates that globalization is more than a set of empirical flows: equally important, globalization exists as a set of discourses that reconstitute political legitimacy in more ‘global’ terms. This recasts the conventional understanding of global governance: rather than a response to the challenges posed by the empirical transcendence of territorial borders or the visible proliferation of non-state actors, the aims, institutions and policies of global governance are shaped and enabled by discourses of globalization, and evolve as these discourses change. In short, this thesis provides further insight into globalization’s transformations of state-based political order. It links these transformations to the discursive processes by which systems of global governance are produced and legitimated as sites of power and authority.