Parochial national interests

Physical isolation from other countries has been replaced by powerful military and economic controls to create national security. Studies in national character often are attempts to further this end. People are prevented from appropriating other cultures by national-oriented concepts of foreign threat and by dehumanized images of other nationalities. Popular images are often powerful enough to influence the behaviour of the majority of a nation's citizens towards other nations and cultures; and international encounter is limited to superficial efforts at diplomacy or tourism.