is a political scientist and senior researcher and at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR). His research concentrates on political and administrative processes in Russian and East European countries. He is currently the leader of a three-year international project on welfare reforms and political mobilisation in Russia. Vadim Kononenko currently works at the European Parliament's directorate general for external policies. His previous employment was with the Finnish Institute of International Affairs where he conducted research on governance in Russia, particularly in the field of energy policies. He is a co-editor of Russia as a Network State. What works in Russia when state institutions do not? Palgrave 2011. Asbjørn Røiseland is a senior researcher at the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research (NIBR) and professor in political science at University of Nordland. His main research interests are local and regional governance and democracy, including network governance and partnerships. Among his research projects are several comparative studies, including comparative studies of local governance in Canada, Russia, and Norway.

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Udsen, Schovsbo and van der Donk's chapter looking at trade secrets law as part of information law is one that starts with great ambition and a promising perspective on the protection of trade secrets. However, the analysis on rights does not provide adequate insights on where in the theory of rights trade secrets law is located. The approach is enlightening and can shift the direction in which trade secrets law is perceived yet may need to be elaborated upon elsewhere within a framework of the theory of rights.All in all, the book, with 15 chapters co-authored by 18 contributors, fulfils an important task in providing a comprehensive context for the directive and effectively clarifies the reasons why the protection of trade secrets isand must bepart of the EU harmonization agenda.

Am 26. September hat Präsident Medwedew auf dem Parteitag von Einiges Russland Wladimir Putin als Kandidaten für die Präsidentenwahlen im März 2012 vorgeschlagen. Damit scheint die Ordnung wiederhergestellt. Doch die Situation hat sich geändert, die Probleme haben sich verschärft und von dem neuen Präsidenten muss man neue Lösungen erwarten. Gewiss kann man davon ausgehen, dass Putin die wichtigste Aufgabe, die Moderation der Interessen im herrschenden Elitenkartell, erfolgreich löst. Doch die Frage, ob es gelingt, die unzufriedene Bevölkerung wieder an die Administration heranzuziehen und in das politische System zu integrieren, muss offen bleiben. Und ob es gelingt, die realen sozialen und ökonomischen Probleme zu lösen, steht dahin. Innovative Ideen ist Putin bisher schuldig geblieben.

Understanding Conflict between Russia and the EU: The Limits of Integration (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, 184 pp., £45.00 hbk.).Understanding Conflict between Russia and the EU: The Limits of Integration takes a bold step beyond the mainstream research in the field by focusing both on understanding of 'conflictual dispositions' in European Union (EU)-Russia relations and identifying the possibilities for stable and non-conflictual policy outcomes. Such a challenging and ambitious task requires a fine balance between conceptual theorising and empirical analysis, something that other studies in this field often fail to achieve. Moreover, the somewhat limited length of the book imposes additional constraints. Prozorov tries to resolve this dilemma by delivering his argument in seven short chapters, each serving as a building block for his sophisticated and philosophical narrative. The book starts with an introductory chapter that postulates 'the fundamental opposition between sovereign and integrationist paradigms of international relations as the primary source of conflictual dispositions in EU-Russia relations'. (p. 2) Prozorov, like other students of EU-Russia relations, observes that the EU-Russia 'strategic partnership' is essentially conflict-prone; however, he is far from defining 'conflict' in strictly practical policy terms or locating it somewhere between dubious traditionalist and transitionalist explanations. He sees conflict in Foucauldian terms as a discursive structure, 'an interface in which the subject-positions of parties involved are incompatible'. (p. 21)In Chapters Two and Three, Prozorov nicely presents his interpretation of the EU-Russia subject-positions through the analysis of Russia's intellectual discourse on Europe, Russia, and EU-Russia relations. He argues that, in their strategies towards each other, both Russia and the EU pursue binary integrationist/sovereign approaches that in concrete political contexts can 'mismatch' and 'misfire' as conflicts and frictions.What is the ultimate force that binds the two into this vicious circle of integrationist and sovereign tendencies? Prozorov ventures a lengthy and original explanation in Chapters Four, Five and Six. In his reading, both actors are caught in the specific intersubjectivity conundrum. Russia finds it impossible to submit itself to an object position in the EU's normative space and thus chooses self-exclusion from Europe, whereas the EU is balancing between the willingness to see Russia adopt its norms and values and an incapability to recognise and respect Russia's difference. Hence, the communicative process between Russia and the EU is profoundly problematic. In the concluding chapter, Prozorov presents several broad proposals for lessening the conflict potential in EU-Russia relations. His main suggestion concerns the notion of intersubjectivity, which should serve as a modality towards pluralism and openness towards mutual difference: 'From the perspective of pluralism, the choice between accession and simple exclusio...