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This text is an analysis of the political and security implications for South-Eastern Europe - and for the whole of Europe - of the collapse of communism. For more than four decades, the Cold War had ensured not only a flow of aid into the region but also a certain kind of stability, with Greece and Turkey belonging to NATO, Bulgaria and Romania to the Warsaw Pact and Yugoslavia and Albania retaining their independence. With the Warsaw Pact dissolved and the Soviet Union no more, the Cold War discipline which had kept the region in a firm grip had collapsed. The old disputes between states, and between nations and minorities within them, have assumed a key role. One of those conflicts has already resulted in the disintegration of Yugoslavia against the background of a brutal war that still continues, defying the efforts of all the major international players to end it. There is a danger of further conflict - notably over Macedonia and the Serb-controlled Albanian-majority province of Kosovo - that could lead to a wider war in the region. This study offers ideas on how the map of the Balkans might be recast to deal with its problems, notably those involving security, and how various international mechanisms could be used to contain crises in the shorter term.