Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security organization with fifty-five participating states from Europe, Central Asia, and North America. It originates from the 1975 Helsinki Final Act agreement establishing a Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which aimed to promote comprehensive security through a three-basket approach. Basket one promoted a system of cooperative security within and between OSCE participating states. Basket two primarily focused on economic dimensions. The third basket related to the human security dimension, specifically human rights, and so established the right of CSCE states to interfere in one another's internal affairs to protect human rights. In 1990, to mark the transition from the Cold War period, the CSCE gained a permanent structure with a small secretariat and formally became the OSCE in 1994. Today, the OSCE is active in the promotion of human rights and the establishment of democratic structures, early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management, and postconflict rehabilitation.

The OSCE has evolved from simply setting the normative standards necessary to fulfill its comprehensive vision of security to an organization with most of its staff engaged in field missions. These missions are designed to deal with specific issues at a local level by building partnerships and dealing with potential conflicts before they spiral out of control. It is claimed that such missions have helped to rebuild civil society in Bosnia and Kosovo, which included fostering security sector reform, ending civil war in Tajikistan, and preventing or limiting conflict in Moldova, Georgia, Macedonia, and Ukraine.

The OSCE faces a difficult future. It is increasingly argued that it duplicates the work of other European institutions, such as the European Union (EU) and the Council of Europe on conflict prevention and human rights, particularly as the EU becomes a security actor. Similarly, NATO's search for a post–Cold War role is leading it into areas where the OSCE is active. NATO and EU enlargement has meant that the OSCE's initial role as a confidence builder between East and West seems irrelevant. Moreover, the OSCE has suffered some organizational problems. Its rotating political leadership has been inconsistent and variable in quality, and it has some superfluous institutions. A lack of consensus among participating states about its precise role has led to unclear or overambitious mission goals being set and subsequently not being achieved. Important members such as Russia appear to have lost interest. Nevertheless, the OSCE has some valuable features that are not duplicated elsewhere. It includes among its members states that are unlikely ever to join the EU or NATO, often in conflict-prone regions like Central Asia. It is also widely trusted, which makes the OSCE a potentially valuable partner for dealing with current security challenges, such as organized crime, people trafficking, terrorism, the illegal arms [Page 647]trade, and the repression of human rights, where military preemption is unlikely to succeed.