This article is concerned with the examination of the attitudes of the ‘common man’ in two regions of the globe, both with respect to basic relations between citizen and state and with respect to the extent to which ‘globalisation’ affects these relations. These questions have too long been discussed primarily at the level of elites or on the basis of assumptions or ‘hunches’ about what the reactions of the people at large may be. By providing at least some evidence pertaining to both these questions, the study thus aims at beginning to fill a gap which has long needed to be filled and at giving the debate on ‘convergence’ and on ‘globalisation’ some of the empirical basis which it badly needs.