As signs of American culture sprout up in greater numbers year after year, students may question how the United States affects the cultural and political development of other countries.

The Issues Committee is sponsoring a panel that will attempt to answer that question and others about globalization at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the University Center Auditorium.

The panel, consisting of scholars from around the country, will attempt to decipher claims about global Americanization, such as one that states the McDonald’s golden arches are the second most recognized symbol in the world, and the ramifications of their recognition.

The panel will consist of Vejas Liulevicius, a University of Tennessee assistant professor in history, James A. Paul of the Global Policy Forum and Heide Fehrenbach from Emory University.

The panelists will be presenting evidence from their own Americanization research and will attempt to bring forth both the positive and negative aspects of America’s impact on culture and practices of the rest of the world.

Some countries have expressed a resentment to the saturation of American identity.

We think that there is a value from being confronted with opinions that differ from our own, said Jason Fletcher, chair of the Issues Committee.