Upon the fall of the Soviet Union, many predicted rising ethnic conflict in the newly independent region of Eastern Europe. One of the principal reasons this conflict did not appear in any sustained form, argues McMahon (political science, U. of Nebraska at Lincoln), was due to the activities of a transnational network of public and private organizations, spearheaded by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, in initiating overlapping and complementary policies for managing ethnic tensions. This network included intergovernmental organizations such as the Council of Europe and the European Union, national governments, and private nongovernmental actors. She provides a historical look at the evolution of this network and how its collective activities created a decentralized form of governance that helped transform ethnic conflict. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)