I’m looking for a good article/articles on a fairly discrete topic: the spread of an idea or sentiment around the world (or continent). I don’t particularly care what the idea is, so much as the dynamics of its spread. For example, in 1968 there were mass student protests in France, Indonesia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Senegal, South Korea, Mexico and of course the United States. Obviously, these countries have very different cultures and communities and yet these students seemed united in a common desire. In Europe in 1848 something somewhat similar happened, in that rebellions and revolts erupted everywhere.
I’m much, much less interested in the content of the ideas than I am in getting a collection of examples of this sort of thing. Similarly, while I’m sure organizations — linked Communist Parties for example — sometimes explain what only appear to be simultaneous events, I’m not looking for anything about that either. I’m also much less interested in the dynamic in the age of the internet and mass-communication where it’s pretty obvious how ideas spread. What I want are examples from before, say, WWII of various fads and fashions, philosophical and political which seemed to erupt everywhere almost at once. Thoughts?