One of the biggest dilemmas of our times is how much safety and security we desire and what price we are prepared to pay for it. By applying and advancing the methods of social research this book fills the gap in the study of security and security risks by analyzing unique data (media, survey, macro data) of transnational security issues in three areas of critical infrastructure - air transport, public transport and energy provision networks.

Informal relations have been one of the major research topics of the social sciences since the 1990s. In order to allow for meaningful comparisons between different combinations of the positive and negative effects of informal relations on democratic representation, this book focuses on post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe as a particular region where formal democratic rules have been established, but competing informal rules are still strong. A broad spectrum of related analytical concepts is discussed from different perspectives and from different academic disciplines, then empirical...