This question is thrown up by the awareness of the deepening contradictions at the world-wide level of civilization. In this context politicians often talk of a ‘clash’. It seems right to explore the reasons for these contradictions, which have their roots in history. The author believes it is not possible to talk en bloc about ‘eastern culture’, or ‘the civilization of the East’. On the other hand, he thinks the expressions ‘western culture’ and ‘western civilization’ do refer to a concrete reality. And this is because the West is in many respects a coherent idea, particularly in terms of religion. We need to attend to the ever topical relationship between Faith and Science, which emerged in culture's earliest times, and ask ourselves why the main monotheistic religions, with the notable exception of Christianity, have held back the development of science and technology. Though we often focus on exchanges between East and West, travelling in a westward direction (the return of many of Hellenic civilization's achievements via Arab thought), we should certainly not ignore the movements in the opposite direction which are closely related to an attraction towards the achievements of the great eastern civilizations.

The author aims to synthesize the content and principal results of four decisive stages in the development of research around borders. He redefines the concepts, methods and areas of application of those parts of the research. He stresses particularly the contemporary period, highlighting discussion of postmodern approaches. The first group of these approaches emphasizes the evolution of territorial identities and relations betweent centre and periphery, the main factors in establishing borders and their functions. The second group stresses the importance of geopolitical factors, including cultural differences between neighbouring territories. To a huge extent security considerations preoccupy this group, which tries to explain changes in border regimes. The third group is concerned with the influence of perceptions of the contemporary world's diversity on political elites and public opinion. Finally other approaches analyse borders starting from a combination of political and institutional factors as well as perceptions of cross-border networks at several territorial levels.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and former Yugoslavia was followed by the achievement of independence by a number of the republics they used to comprise. This gave rise to the appearance of what the author calls ‘quasi-states’ on the territory of the newly independent entities. Emerging from ethnic conflicts, the new units are being kept going by the action of an external protector (be it Russia, Armenia, Serbia or NATO). A quasi-state does not enjoy full international recognition, but functions nonetheless as a genuine state entity with its administration, army and financial system - all controlled by the protector. Its existence continually threatens the peace and security of the region in which it is situated, keeping it in a state of permanent tension.

This article is the story of the partition of Moldova into two republics after the short war of the Dniestr in 1992. It is for the most part a narrative drawing on field notes gathered in June 1993 from witnesses and actors in the drama. Its consequences have relegated Moldova, a flourishing soviet republic well known for its high-quality wines and its specialized industrial products within a large military-industrial complex, to the rank of one of the poorest post-soviet entities, struggling with terrible problems of survival. Numbers of its inhabitants have been thrown into every kind of trafficking (drugs, prostitution, illegal work). This story and its commentary aim to reveal the exacerbation of tensions that occurred between the end of perestroïka and the breakup of the USSR - a period of confused loyalties, inter-ethnic and nationalist crisis, and difficult negotiations between the great powers over sharing out zones of influence.

The author undertakes the job of analysing the real situation of the media in Albania from the viewpoint of the complex relations being set up between the spheres of religion and communications in the post-communist period. In the course of his argument he shows how religion is adopting a form in which events and stories of a communications order are being confused. These basic dimensions are assuming a particularly noteworthy aspect because Albanian society has the specific features of a multi-faith environment where Muslim, Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, etc. practices and rites can be found. The author also stresses the respect for norms and values of a secular model that precisely distinguishes the various spaces for discourse and intervention by actors. He notes how recent democratization has managed to facilitate a renaissance of religious usage, even though some priests may express a harsh view of the forms of expression of modernity. Churches and mosques are elaborating their own particular narratives of Albanian history, creating in this way the features of an interpretative multi-stranded story.

This article traces the varied history, ancient and often painful, of the city of Lemberg, or Lwów, or Lvov, or Lviv … All these names correspond to stages in history marked by identities which have left traces in the imaginary, the topography and the system of reference points. Today a new version of this situation - stamped with the sign of paradox - is characterized by the strange notion of a ‘border’ between East and West proposed by Huntington: that frontier is said to pass through the town itself. But it cannot be reduced to this status of border post because of glibly reductive theoretical statements. Enlargement of the European Union gives Lviv a new role speaking for Ukraine, manifesting its desire for Europe and neighbourly relationships with it.

Historically Turkey has been the ‘other’ for Europe. Turkish identity has taken shape via an ambivalent relationship with an idealized Europe. There was resentment due to the perception of exclusion, but also an intense desire to belong. As the project of official association with the European Union progressed, each of the partners had to ask questions about the meaning of culture and identity. At first there was a conviction that the prospect of entry would never turn into reality. The entrenched state elite in Turkey could therefore go through the steps with impunity. However, after the 1990s, new Turkish social groups, independent of the state elite, took the project more seriously, and embarked on serious democratization, as promised in various agreements with the EU. At the same time the Union experienced a similar reversal, with Brussels envisaging Turkey's accession as a real possibility. This new alignment of forces led to an intense debate on the topics of European identity and the frontiers of Europe. If the EU opts for a more constitutional and less cultural representation of the meaning of Europe - thereby implying that its borders could extend even further in the future - then Turkey's accession may well take place.

The aim of the paper is to analyse works by Gumilev and Huntington from the point of view of their approaches and terminologies. Both of them have attempted to give an overall explanation of new phenomena in world history. Though the terminology differs, their arguments are relatively similar. They propose a synthetic approach that looks at the whole of society and puts them among historians specializing in issues of civilization, a theory whose validity, together with the status they are given, is still very controversial at the present time. Analogies and differences are discernible first through their taxonomic system. Both authors also try to answer the question as to the eastern border of western civilization.

This text lays out the purpose of the current issue on shifting borders and identities. It places this question in the context of the formation of macro-regional blocs and the end of bipolarization. It moves towards showing the repercussions of this context for the functioning of border zones and the identities they have fashioned over the long period of modern history. The article aims to reveal the emergence of the dogmatism of the religion of capital beneath the new faces of a multifaceted anthropological culturalism. As a result of an unprecedented media exposure on a worldwide scale, this seems to be turning into the new model for understanding the great world events, which are being taken over by a number of political actors without any real discernment. One of the chief features of our collection of articles is that they highlight the fact that the contributing authors, while belonging to different schools of thought, have all tried to stand apart from them or at least show they have limits. To conclude, in taking its inspiration from the work of Jacques Derrida, this article would like to provide some keys to reading and understanding.