Internal Dangers Research Articles

Britain and European Union, the Repercussions of Accession and the Effects of Secession

Europe's openness to the East, while it lives in historical, political, or cultural temporal regions, where soon after a certain crisis was settled, a new crisis emerged, such as questioning the borders and demarcating them again, as well as the dispute between the economic downturn and the necessity of reforms, the place of the ideological confrontation between the East and the West, and the emergence of the phenomenon of fear and caution. Internal dangers replace the fear of external aggression, and the perspective of fear of internal dangers is stronger because it directly affects the security of society and threatens the weakness of the state and its inability to protect internal society. This realistically explains that the concerns and challenges in the security field are constantly increasing, and the problems of the major European countries related to immigration and organized crime may become more severe in terms of their number due to the size of those countries, but they differ from the problems of the dominant countries in terms of their nature and attempts to settle them. Therefore, major private countries, or what were previously called major countries, such as Britain, seek to take proactive measures and measures in anticipation of future threats. In addition, Britain seeks to restore its international status as a great power and its desire to play the role of peacemaker. In order to achieve interests, which is a religion rooted in its history. Those interests must be achieved, even if this is at the expense of European unity, European integration, or the European Common Market.

Cyber Security and Data Collection

Every country that seeks to protect its national interests and security in the information age faces the problem of adequately protecting the national information sphere. As a confirmation of this thesis, modern security studies talk about cybersecurity and its importance for national security. Therefore, we can say that cybersecurity protects the vital interests of individuals, society and the state in the information sphere from external and internal dangers and risks. The main threat in the sphere of international cybersecurity is the use of information and communication technology as an information weapon for the achievement of political and military goals that conflict with international law, for violating public order, inciting inter-ethnic, inter-religious and inter-denominational hatred, as well as for carrying out criminal and intelligence - subversive activities. The paper's subject is a comprehensive overview of cyber security and its impact on national security.

MILITARY SECURITY AS A SUBSYSTEM OF NATIONAL SECURITY

The article considers military security as one of the elements of the national security system, determines its determination by other components. Based on the conducted research, it is concluded that there is a dynamic relationship between all elements, but these elements are not equivalent in the overall system. Their place and role are determined by the degree of external and internal dangers and threats.

Threats to academic freedom: The French case

Academic freedom is currently threatened not only in dictatorial or authoritarian regimes but in democracies as well. Thus, this analysis of the contemporary French experience, in which we observe a destructive climate maintained by intellectuals and political actors on both the right and the left. The extremization, intolerance, and radicalization of debates have increased since the election of Emmanuel Macron in 2017. At the same time, university institutions often appear overwhelmed or powerless in the face of both internal and external dangers.

The Saudi Arabia and Iran Factor in Sectarian Conflict of Pakistan: Critical and Analytics Study in Historic and Contemporary Scenario

This research will take a close look at the often unseen and unheard situation of these countries. In terms of Saudi Iranian relations, this quantitative research examines Pakistan’s complexity of sectarian conflicts and divisions. Pakistan has emerged as a country more vulnerable to internal dangers than external threats at the moment in recent history. However, external forces have exacerbated these internal dangers. Every level of its society is mucking up Islam for egotistical interests, either directly or indirectly. Because of its ancient, traditional fundamental framework, Islam means that peace, fraternity, and harmony are usually truly in effect. Sectarianism, turbulence, turmoil, anarchy, pessimism, superstitious questioning, terrible illiteracy, and massive poverty are all consequences of these wrongdoings. This growth was continually fuelled by Iran and Saudi Arabia. Because of internal political changes and the repercussions of the Islamic revolution in Iran and orthodox approach of Saudi Arabia, a sectarian rift emerged in Pakistan in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The mentioned foreign locations’ ideological and geostrategic squabbles have had a direct impact on Pakistan. Pakistan had been a suitable heaven for non-state actors to promote their agenda for achievement of their core objectives of divide and rule. The research will find out causes, remedies and diagnosis to analyze the real picture of future prospects.

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE FINANCIAL AND ECONOMIC SECURITY OF THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN UKRAINE

Abstract. The article states that the financial and economic security of the agricultural sector is aimed at ensuring a sufficient level of efficiency of financial and economic activities; protection from external and internal dangers, improvement of financial firmness, and stability. It is established that one of the ways to solve these problems is the application of modern approaches to determining the level of financial and economic security of agricultural sector entities in order to identify the most significant threats to the market, as well as the application of modern approaches to improving the level of financial and economic security of the Ukrainian agricultural sector. It was found that the financial security of the country directly and proportionally affects the financial and economic security of the agricultural sector, and the presence of problems can prevent the agricultural sector from reaching the desired economic level. The basic elements of financial and economic security in agricultural entities are identified as financial resources, financial stability (solvency), and profitability of operating activities, effectiveness of financial and economic activities, the possibility and cost of attracting external financial resources. The indicators for financial and economic security of agricultural enterprises in Mykolayiv region are assessed and a model of factors influencing the indicator, which is the profitability of operating activity, is developed. General and specialist research methods were used to study theoretical, and methodological issues of financial and economic security in the agricultural sector; monographic, causal relationships, and logical modeling are also used in determining the indicators of assessing the level of financial and economic security in the agricultural sector; method of dynamic analysis and — in order to assess the rate of economic growth of the main macroeconomic indicators of the country, taking into account the dynamics of their change in the market environment; calculation-constructive, graphic — when assessing the level of financial and economic security. It is proved that the financial and economic security of the agricultural sector is aimed at ensuring a sufficient level of efficiency of financial and economic activities in the market environment, protection from external and internal dangers, as well as creating conditions for long-term development, given globalization challenges. Keywords: agricultural sector, financial security, financial and economic security, indicators, approaches. JEL Classification Q14, Q18 Formulas: 0; fig.: 1; tabl.: 6; bibl.: 13.

The role of the Cer1 transposon in horizontal transfer of transgenerational memory

Animals face both external and internal dangers: pathogens threaten from the environment, and unstable genomic elements threaten from within. C.elegans protects itself from pathogens by "reading" bacterial small RNAs, using this information to both induce avoidance and transmit memories for four generations. Here, we found that memories can be transferred from either lysed animals or from conditioned media to naive animals via Cer1 retrotransposon-encoded virus-like particles. Moreover, Cer1 functions internally at the step of transmission of information from the germline to neurons and is required for learned avoidance. The presence of the Cer1 retrotransposon in wild C.elegans strains correlates with the ability to learn and inherit small-RNA-induced pathogen avoidance. Together, these results suggest that C.elegans has co-opted a potentially dangerous retrotransposon to instead protect itself and its progeny from a common pathogen through its inter-tissue signaling ability, hijacking this genomic element for its own adaptive immunity benefit.

Comparison of Emergency State Regulation Experiences in Latvia, France and Belgium

The article analyses the legal framework of emergency state in three countries – Latvia, France and Belgium. The aim of the study is to identify problems thus to improve the national legal framework. Given that the concept of emergency state has gained its relevance in 2020 with the spread of the Covid-19 disease, it has been found that the Emergency State Institute and its legal framework is an important part of every country’s national legal system, as it is a mechanism that helps to strengthen national security in case of external and internal dangers. Analysis of the legal framework of emergency state in Latvia in the context of the selected legal framework of two other countries is an effective way to assess whether the national legal framework requires improvements. In the research such methods were used as cognition, monographic, historical, comparative and analytical method, as well as interpretation of legal provisions recognized in scientific law, which contributed to understanding of the scope of legal norms in national constitutions and other related legislation in the context of the topic. In the result of the study differences in national basic laws and special laws were mainly identified, including the aspect of restriction of human rights, thus contributing to reflection and drawing conclusions on the necessary changes to the national framework. Research also outlines functioning and competence of municipality work in an emergency state.

ОСОБЛИВОСТІ ФОРМУВАННЯ ТА ФУНКЦІОНУВАННЯ СИСТЕМИ ФІНАНСОВО-ЕКОНОМІЧНОЇ БЕЗПЕКИ ПРОМИСЛОВОГО ПІДПРИЄМСТВА В УМОВАХ ІНДУСТРІЇ 4.0: СТРАТЕГІЧНИЙ АСПЕКТ

Introduction . The connection of financial and economic spheres in a high-risk environment of domestic industry allows us to talk about the problems of financial and economic security both in terms of public administration and in the functioning of economic structures. Traditional types of risks, the impact of which changes the effectiveness and efficiency of business structures, have long been studied within the classical approaches to risk management, while the risks caused by the spread of Industry 4.0 trends are still poorly amenable to management, control, minimization, which indicates the need to review and optimize the processes of formation and operation of economic security systems of industrial enterprises. Building a comprehensive system of financial and economic security of the enterprise is a long process, and its implementation requires resources, which encourages the search for evidence necessary to justify its need for company management. Purpose. The purpose of the study is to establish the peculiarities of the formation and functioning of financial and economic security systems of Ukrainian industrial enterprises in the context of the spread of Industry 4.0. Methods. In the course of research the monographic method and a method of the theoretical analysis are used. Methods of analysis and synthesis are also used. The method of generalization was used in the process of forming conclusions based on the results of the study. Results. The article examines the peculiarities of the formation and functioning of the system of financial and economic security at modern Ukrainian industrial enterprises, taking into account the risks of Industry 4.0. The characteristic of the structural and logical scheme of construction and functioning of the system of financial and economic security of the enterprise is given. The mechanism of ensuring financial and economic security of the enterprise is described. The features of strategic management of the system of financial and economic security of industrial enterprises are established. Originality. Financial and economic security of an industrial enterprise is a state of functioning of mechanisms for counteracting the negative impact of threats and risks of financial and economic nature on the results of its production and economic processes, which minimizes their destructive consequences for financial and economic interests of the enterprise and guarantees its ability to operate continuously. Industry 4.0 as the newest form of organization of industrial relations, has become a source for the emergence of new risks, threats and challenges for industrial enterprises. In particular, the low level of information and digital literacy of employees, digitalization of production processes, the rapid increase in information resources of different quality levels, the need for management decisions in time constraints, rising costs for innovative restructuring of production technologies, high obsolescence of equipment - all noted facts and should become catalysts for finding ways to form an effective system of financial and economic security in domestic enterprises and develop mechanisms for effective management in the strategic and tactical areas. In terms of Industry 4.0, the tasks of the economic security system include ensuring the protection of automated and digital processes, developing a mechanism to prevent cyberattacks, developing standards of security behavior with information resources of the enterprise, control of impersonal communication with stakeholders, security of digital financial settlements. Conclusion. The complex approach to formation and functioning of system of financial and economic security of the enterprise which should include the purpose, tasks, principles of functioning, objects and subjects, strategy and the mechanism of system strategic management of financial and economic safety of the industrial enterprises at their integration to Industry 4.0 is investigated. The purpose of the financial and economic security of the entity is the timely detection and prevention of external and internal dangers and threats, ensuring the integrity of corporate resources and achieving financial and economic interests of the enterprise, the implementation of its planned business goals in the short and strategic perspectives. With the spread of Industry 4.0, the problem of an integrated approach to economic and financial security is critical to building an effective management system of financial and economic security of the enterprise and maintaining its functional state at a high level. This will help prevent the loss of financial stability, solvency, competitiveness of the industrial enterprise and allow it to gain important market advantages, including the ability to develop and adapt to changing conditions of a risky economic environment.

The Dimensions of Arab Regional Security and Its Perceptions for the Period (2010-2017)

This study aimed at pin-pointing the Arab Regional Security and its perceptions, and analyzing that through the effect of the modern strategic transformation in the Arab reality, represented in revolutions of the Arab Spring, and for the sake of achieving this objective, the study started from a principal objective meaning, recognizing the dimensions of the Arab Regional Security and its perceptions. The study employed the analytical descriptive method, and the study had deduced a group of results, the most important of them: is that the comprehensive security is connected with the collective security of states, that is because any defect in one affects negatively the security of other states. And that the Arab regional security depends on coordination among the security policies of the Arab States, and cooperation in carrying them out, and all that demands reformulation of the theory of regional security of the states due to the civilized identity, and the highest values of the Arab States altogether, to confront the internal and external dangers. Also the concern is concentrated on the political security at a great degree rather than else. Key w ords : Security, The Arab National Security, The Regional Security, The Arab Regional Security, The International and Regional Forces. DOI : 10.7176/RHSS/9-22-01 Publication date: November 30 th 2019

FUNCTIONAL DESCRIPTION OF ECONOMIC SECURITY SYSTEM OF THE AIRPORT

Introduction. The article describes the logical sequence of stages of the functional description of the economic security system. Namely, we have generalized functions of the airline, identified the dangers and risks of their implementation, set tasks, and defined the list of functions for shaping the conditions of safe operation of the airline. Hazards and risks have been identified while performing the basic functions of the airlines. The nature of their origin has been generalized. On the basis of theoretical generalizations of the essence of the concept of and its place in the economic security system, it is proved that risk is a source of instability. Respectively, the risk management system is the basis for the formation of the economic security system. A functional description of the economic security system by types of risks of the airline is made. Purpose. The article aims to provide a functional description of the economic security system based on the generalization of the functions of the airline, identification of sources of hazards and risks of their fulfillment, setting of tasks and formation of functions of safe activity. The method (methodology). The method of system analysis (description of the economic security system), the method of management (the formation of tasks and functions), the method of risk management (species risk classification) have become the basis of the article. Results. Based on the analysis of modern scientific approaches to the identification of the functions of the airline, axiomatic provisions have been formed. They have defined the concept of the approach to the functional description of the economic security system. Functional description of the economic security system of the enterprise allows to identify its external and internal functions, to outline the processes of this system and to determine the parameters due to which the system changes its behavior, responding to external and internal dangers and risks.

The Citizen's Function to Protect the Fatherland and Ensure the Defense and Security of the Russian Federation

The paper is devoted to determining the citizen’s function to protect the Fatherland and ensure the defense and security of the Russian Federation. Based on the analysis of the legal nature of citizens’ participation in defense and security, as well as internal and external military threats and dangers, it is concluded that protection of the Fatherland is associated with ensuring the existence, functioning and legitimacy of the State, the functions and administrative and legal forms of such participation. The analysis of doctrinal views on the concept of the constitutional system and judicial practice gives grounds to infer that the legal institution under consideration is immanent to the constitutional system: by participating, citizens perform a legitimizing function in relation to the constitutional order and the state power, i.e. reproduce the State identity of Russia, which can be expressed both in an active and passive form. If participation involves incorporation of the State into a military organization, citizens perform a shaping function. Since such participation presupposes the existence of rights and obligations, which follows from the constitutional norms on the duty and duty to protect the Fatherland, citizens, entering into legal relations, exercise human rights protective (protecting their interests) and law enforcement (protecting public interests) functions. Participation of citizens in ensuring defense and security and acting as a form of democracy involves not only the performance of duty and responsibility to protect the Fatherland, but also implementation of the rights and freedoms of citizens and their associations, other organizations in the interests of protecting the constitutional system, ensuring the defense and security of the State. The functions allow us to classify the forms of participation depending on the functional nature, the nature of the implementation of legal rights in state administration, the nature of relations with state bodies, the degree of relevance to the result, the type of administrative and legal status, the basis of participation.

Profile of Hao Wu

Researchers’ understanding of cellular physiology has evolved over time with the identification of internal cell structures. Organelles, large and small, are key to cellular function and response to external stimuli. Harvard Medical School professor of structural biology Hao Wu, elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 2015, uses protein structure determination to gain insights into immune signaling pathways that cells use to combat infections and internal dangers. This work has led to the identification of protein-rich, intracellular signaling complexes called signalosomes or supramolecular organizing centers (SMOCs) (1). This discovery filled the conceptual gap between classic organelles and more transient, stimulus-dependent molecular complexes. Wu’s Inaugural Article describes the assembly of a SMOC in the inflammatory pathway—an “inflammasome”—and provides insights into potential therapeutic targets (2). Hao Wu. Image credit: John Soares (photographer). Wu comes from a long line of academics and scientists. She was born in Beijing to physicist parents. Her grandfather, Chengluo Wu, was a chemist known for unifying weights and measures in China. During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, however, these academic qualifications became liabilities. Wu’s parents were remanded to the countryside to farm rice and raise pigs when she was 5 years old. Wu was sent to live with an aunt in northern China. “They really tried to shelter my brother and me from the political situation,” Wu says. After 2 years of exile, her parents were allowed to return to Beijing and the family reunited. Influenced by a biology teacher with whom she made short films that explored subjects like marine zoology and convinced by her mother, Wu decided to attend Peking Union Medical College, initially established with the help of the Rockefeller Foundation. Wu picked up an interest in photography during her premed years at Peking University, which primed her career. Wu researched the autoimmune disease …

Characterization of the anti-inflammation mechanism for the AO herbal extract

A broad range of cytokines are secreted during the inflammatory response by the immune system. Some cytokines promote inflammation, while others inhibit inflammation. Inflammatory cytokines work in harmony when they encounter external pathogens or internal dangers. Inflammation is resolved after the cause is eliminated. However, if the cause persists, it can lead to significant diseases. The pro-inflammatory cytokine TNFα is a biomarker for the inflammatory response. The AO herbal mixture extracted from 10 medicinal herbs has been investigated for its ability to control the inflammatory process and to inhibit TNFα activity. To find the treatment for inflammation related diseases, we examined whether the AO herbal extract is able to affect the activities of other cytokines. Here we present that the AO herbal extract is able to inhibit pro-inflammatory factor activities including IL-1α. However, it does not affect the activities of IL-1β and IL-6. Interestingly, it promotes the activity of anti-inflammatory factors including IL-4 and IL-13.

Black Placemaking: Celebration, Play, and Poetry

Using Chicago as our case, this article puts forth a notion of black placemaking that privileges the creative, celebratory, playful, pleasurable, and poetic experiences of being black and being around other black people in the city. Black placemaking refers to the ways that urban black Americans create sites of endurance, belonging, and resistance through social interaction. Our framework offers a corrective to existing accounts that depict urban blacks as bounded, plagued by violence, victims and perpetrators, unproductive, and isolated from one another and the city writ large. While ignoring neither the external assaults on black spaces nor the internal dangers that can make everyday life difficult, we highlight how black people make places in spite of those realities. Our four cases – the black digital commons, black public housing reunions, black lesbian and gay nightlife, and black Little League baseball – elucidate the matter of black lives across genders, sexualities, ages, classes, and politics.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (review)

Reviewed by: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo Elizabeth Bush Bardugo, Leigh Six of Crows. Holt, 2015 [480p] ISBN 978-1-62779-212-7 $18.99 Reviewed from galleys R* Gr. 9-12 The mood and mind-enhancing properties of jurda have made the chewable blossoms a popular trade item in the port city of Ketterdam, but a ramped-up version called jurda parem, concocted in a lab, is poised to release chaos among the Grisha, whose already extraordinary powers to affect human physiology and the natural [End Page 132] elements become heightened by the drug and threaten control of governments, police, or militaries. Ketterdam merchant Van Eck fears the consequences if the drug should fall into the wrong hands, and he recruits Kaz, a Ketterdam street gang leader, to put together a team to infiltrate the impregnable fortress in Fjerda and bring back the captive chemist who is held in its prison. There are heist stories with ingenious plotting, and then there are heist stories like this one that raise the ante with luminous writing, fully credible characters, a richly developed world, and internal dangers as threatening as the enemy the team faces. As leader of the six infiltrators, Kaz propels the action, but the other five rise far above the status of supporting cast with riveting backstories spun out with exemplary timing. Inej, “the Wraith,” is gifted at knifeplay and stealth but can’t sneak into Kaz’s heart; Fjerdan soldier and Grisha killer Matthias harbors a shameful passion for Nina, a Heartrender Grisha who can destroy an enemy with the wave of a hand; sharpshooter and gambler Jesper keeps another skill tightly under wraps; Van Eck’s son, Wylan, proves his value as more than collateral to ensure his father’s reward money, even as he and Jesper find their casual friendship turning into something more. This is fully satisfying both as a tale of a completed mission and as a segue into adventure to come in a series that promises to be as addictive as jurda parem itself. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

İbni Haldun’un Devlet Anlayişi Çerçevesinde “Refah Devleti” ve “İktisadi Kalkinma” Düşüncesi

In Ibn Khaldun's thought system the phenomenon of asabiyyah is the driving force for communities to build a state. Ibn Khaldun does not think the state as an economic decision-making mechanism. The state should provide safe and fair environment for executing the economic activity. The state protects civil society from external and internal dangers, and takes the authority from a strong military organization. The state provides a protection for a fair, rights and freedoms as a political authority and this protection is the determinant of economics welfare. As the state developes, and increases economic prosperity, the community has a comfort in the economic terms. The state must manage to this process well, must avoid wastage. Otherwise, collapse of the state is inevitable afterwards the weaking of the state. The process of economic development creates a welfare society with integrating all cases socio-economic and cultural. One of the most important elements feeding economic development process is values in the community. Especially in the period of which provided economic welfare and planned economic development moral values of society should not be ignored. Carrying out economic activity and protection of the moral values of society are important. If these values ara not taken into account, economic development plans which are lack of social aspects will appear. Keywords: Ibn Khaldun, Muqaddimah, Asabbiyyah, State, Economic Development, Labor. Jel Classifications: B10, B31, N00, O10

Who Can Get a Place in the Noah's Ark of the 21st Century

Our civilization judging by the many scientists, historians, philosophers, social scientists and natural scientists opinion is not the first and not the last one on Earth. The limited existence of any civilization always ends with one. This is the degradation with natural disasters and with the tragic fate of dying people. A character of the dynamics of their development, that is, a rise then reaching of a maximum level and a mandatory recession very resembles a normal Gaussian distribution. Dynamics of human survival is also a kind of a Gaussian curve, but it is significantly different from the curve of the dynamics of a civilization with the time parameters. Index of the human' survival rate begins to fall rapidly while the rate of civilization' development is still held at maximum. The main reasons for the downfall of civilizations have always been conflicts between the laws of nature and society, when they reach the extreme limit. Reasons for the decline of the survival rate in growing of the number and capacity of external and internal dangers to human health and life. Natural disasters, technogenic catastrophes, terrorist and military actions rations belong to the external dangers; however a rapidly growing of bureaucracy is a basis for increasing of internal ones. The biological instinct of self-preservation is the primary and often the only guarantee of survival in the initial and final stages of the development of civilizations. However, the transition to an application this basic instinct should start now with due regard the above-mentioned shift in the dynamics of these two Gaussian curves, characterize the dynamics of the survival rate and the civilization' development . So that is must be done before the Great Flood will come. Issues develop an adequate Paradigm for survival of an ordinary man and Methodologies, Technologies and Design of a special cybernetic device that is the Cybernated Self-Preservation' Kit for personal use is the subject of this publication.

NF-κB Signaling in the Aging Process

The aging process represents a progressive decline in cellular and organism function. Explaining the aging process has given rise to a cornucopia for different theories in which the basic difference has been the question whether aging is genetically regulated or an entropic degeneration process. Different screening techniques have revealed that mammalian aging is associated with the activation of NF-kappaB transcription factor system. The NF-kappaB system is an ancient host defense system concerned with immune responses and different external and internal dangers, such as oxidative and genotoxic stress. NF-kappaB signaling is not only the master regulator of inflammatory responses but can also regulate several homeostatic responses such as apoptosis, autophagy, and tissue atrophy. We will describe how chronic activation of NF-kappaB signaling has the capacity to induce the senescent phenotype associated with aging. Interestingly, several longevity genes such as SIRT1, SIRT6, and FoxOs can clearly suppress NF-kappaB signaling and in this way delay the aging process and extend lifespan. It seems that the aging process is an entropic degeneration process driven by NF-kappaB signaling. This process can be regulated by a variety of longevity genes along with a plethora of other factors such as genetic polymorphism, immune and dietary aspects, and environmental insults.

The Balkans in the New Millennium: In the Shadow of War and Peace by Tom s> Gallagher (review)

REVIEWS 375 pay off for supplying some of its former client states with energy at below market prices? Perhaps too stridently anti-Russian for West European sensibilities this book remains, nevertheless, an invaluable study for regional specialists and for those concerned with the politics of energy supply in both Central and Western Europe. School ofHistoy STUART THOMPSTONE University ofNottingham Gallagher, Tom. TheBalkansin theNew Millennium: In theShadowof Warand Peace.Outcast Europe, 3. Routledge, London and New York, 2005. xix + 232 pp. Maps. Tables. Notes. Bibliography.Index. ?65.oo. THE simplestway to convey a general impressionof the scope of this book is by commenting brieflyon the eight chaptersthat make up most of it. Chapter two ('The road to war in Kosovo') and chapter three ('Milosevic and NATO collide over Kosovo') are oddities in the sense that they examine specifichistorical moments in the Kosovo conflict, and it is not clear why these themes should be singled out for particularattention. In contrast, chapter one and chapters four to seven are firmly anchored in the political geography of the region as it emergedwhen the fightingstopped, and they bringthe storyup to about the end of 2004, with a sprinklingof references dated 2005. Chapter one is headed 'Greece: a peace-makingrole lost and re-found';chapter four, 'Macedonia: internal dangers supplant external ones'; chapter five, 'Serbia from 2000: Milosevic's poisonous legacy'; chapter six, 'Bosnia:redesigninga flawed peace process'; chapter seven, 'Still a danger-point: Kosovo under internationalrule'; chapter eight, 'The European Union in search of Balkan answers'. These chapters form the backbone of the work, and in them Gallagherdemonstratesa trulyimpressivecommand of sourcesand painstaking attention to detail. The trouble is that the essentialoutlines of the story in every instance are well known: the sorrylack of progressin Bosnia and Kosovo under international control, the political and economic mess in Serbia, the difficultiesof state-building in Macedonia, the timidity and ineptitude of the European Union in dealing with the huge problems of security and economic reconstructionin the region. If our detailedknowledgeof these mattersis enhanced by reading these essays, they add nothing new by way of historical understanding , nor do they give a fresh angle of vision on the future. Gallagher's winding-up of the chapter on Bosnia is an accuratereflectionof the style and content of the book as a whole. He writes that by 'the middle of the first decade of the new century, it is likely to become apparent if Bosnia has acquired functioning state-level structures that will enable it to be drawn firmly into the mainstreamof European affairs.If a decade of externallyled state building reveals that it is still a deeply fracturedpolity, then it is likely that Bosniawill remain under internationalsupervision'(p. I48).A prettysafe each-way bet, one would have thought. True, the passage seems to contain a 376 SEER, 85, 2, 2007 prediction of a kind, tied to mid-decade, but the book was publishedin 2005. Were there no clues when it went to press as to which way Bosnia might be heading? The authorseems to have a bit of a thing about dates.There is an irritating portentousness about the phrase 'New Millennium' in the main title, reinforced by the sonorousbut meaninglesssub-title.Certainly,momentous questions of war and peace in the Balkanswere settled when Serbia's army and paramilitariespulled out of Kosovo in I999, but the peoples of the region are still living in the old millennium, historicallyspeaking.Gallagher amply confirms that the turning of the century has brought no new starts anywhere. Readers will also notice that the Balkanshave undergone a drasticshrinkage in thisbook, both conceptuallyand geographically.When he finallyattendsto the concept at all, it transpiresthat Gallagheruses 'Balkans'as simple shorthand for the 'formercommunist states of South-EastEurope' (p. i86). (I had to work out this connection for myself, by digging in the Index, and finding 'Balkans',sub-heading'common legacy'.)For the purposesof argument,let us accept this as a legitimate conflation of analyticalcategories, and leave aside the question of why in that case chapter one is on Greece. The fact remains that the book is not even a survey of the Western Balkans,because Croatia, Montenegro and Albania figureonly in passing.In chaptersfour to seven, the field...