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Post-cold war concept of security is based on realistic postulates and emphasises a concept of state, forces,power and national interests. Military and political concept of security was dominant while the relations between the superpowers was based on the so called bipolar balance of power. Identity of states was realised by membership in military, political and economic organisations. The strategy of returning to the era of nuclear weapons reaches its full flowering. The crucial point of security after the end of Cold war consists of searching for giving answers to the threats coming from the outside and abilities of states to maintain their independent integrity against changed relations among the powers, which potentially may become enemies. Under such circumstances powers should not be ignored in any interpretation of any aspect of security, for realistic theories of international relations are still of great influence in the field of security. They will be modified in different conditions and will act in the sense of enlarged concept of security - instead of dominant concepts of political and military security typical for the Cold War era, economic, social and environmental factors will appear. Basic weakness of the realistic theories of security is in the lack of recognising the importance of cooperation between main factors in international community. This failure will be replaced neo realistic and liberal and institutional theories of security which emphasises the concept of cooperation in the first place. Concepts of power, forces and integral processes will be observed within the context of changes in the international relations.

THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES THE ACTIVITIES OF DEYSI CHEYNE, A ONE-TIME LEFTIST REBEL WHO NOW HEADS A NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATION DESIGNED TO IMPROVE THE WELFARE OF WOMEN IN EL SALVADOR. IT FINDS THAT WHILE CHEYNE AND HER COHORTS ARE DOING GOOD WORK, HER ATTITUDE TOWARD POLITICS AND THE STATE ILLUSTRATES HOW MANY "ON THE LEFT" IN LATIN AMERICA HAVE GONE FROM A CONSUMING PASSION FOR SEIZING THE STATE TO A VIRTUAL ABANDONMENT OF INTEREST IN GOVERNMENT. SUCH A TREND IS DISTURBING BECAUSE THE FLEDGLING DEMOCRACY IN EL SALVADOR NEEDS DEMOCRATS. THOSE WHOSE COMMITMENT TO SOCIAL WELFARE PREVIOUSLY LED THEM TO SEEK REVOLUTION NOW NEED, LIKE EVERYONE ELSE, TO PARTICIPATE EN MASSE IN DEMOCRATIC POLITICS.

Book reviewed in this article:Security without War: A Post‐Cold War Foreign Policy, by Michael H. Shuman and Hal HarveyA Multipolar Peace? Great‐Power Politics in the Twenty‐first Century, by Charles W. Kegley Jr. and Gregory Raymond