Book excerpt: In this the authors obtain an isoperimetric characterization of relatively hyperbolicity of a groups with respect to a collection of subgroups. This allows them to apply classical combinatorial methods related to van Kampen diagrams to obtain relative analogues of some well-known algebraic and geometric properties of ordinary hyperbolic groups. There is also an introduction and study of the notion of a relatively quasi-convex subgroup of a relatively hyperbolic group and solve somenatural algorithmic problems.