Seminar paper from the year 2003 in the subject Politics - Topic: International Organisations, grade: 1,0, Schiller International University , course: Internationale Organisationen, language: English, abstract: The idea of seeking security through an international organization is certainly not new. Immanuel Kant envisaged it already over two centuries ago in Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View (1784). “Through war, through the taxing and never-ending accumulation of armament... after devastations, revolutions, and even complete exhaustion,”Kant foresaw that“human nature would bring people to that wh ich reason could have told them in the beginning: that humankind must step from the lawless condition of savages into a league of nations to secure the peace.” The Concert of Europe, the League of Nations, and the UN were all built upon the principle of preserving peace. One can argue about their successes and failures, but the UN is now more than fifty years old and is still an important player in the global security architecture through for instance its peacekeeping operations. The UN Charter states in Article 1 that all members shall be committed “tomaintain international peace and security, and to that end, to take effective collective measures”to preserve or restore the peace and Article 24 provides the Security Council with the “primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.” The concept of “collective security” was a principle of the League of Nations and is included in the UN Charter as well. It basically means that an aggression against one member state will be regarded as an aggression against the collective and lead to joint action (economic sanctions, military action, etc.) against the aggressor. This concept has so far not been very successful: mainly, but not limited to, because countries are not willing to accept collective action above their national interests. Besides the UN, there are also regional organizations, which aim at preserving peace and security. One of them is the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), which will be examined in this paper. Is the OSCE successful in its attempt to preserve peace and security and encourage cooperation in Europe? What is its role in today’s European security architecture (NATO, EU, and UN)? And is it still important after the end of the Cold War? This report aims at answering these questions. The background information in the first part of the paper is mainly taken from the OSCE Handbook, unless otherwise indicated.

This thesis examines the role of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) among organizations dealing with security issues, such as the United Nations, the European Union, and NATO. This study further analyzes the OSCE commitments in the fields of human rights, democracy, rule of law, and national minorities. This analysis is performed in order to promote the OSCE to a broader public. The thesis further analyzes and describes the origins of the Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) and its development since 1975, when the Helsinki Final Act was signed by the Heads of State or Government of all participating States. The development of the international situation in Europe, the end of Cold War, and escalation of violence, especially in South Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia, caused fundamental changes in the European, and subsequently, the world security environment. The CSCE identified and responded to this new situation, resulting in a dramatic growth of its own role in shaping a common security area. Consequently, the CSCE changed its name to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. However, some critics think that OSCE is a "dead" organization, lacking tangible results and the necessary "teeth." It is necessary to review the main ideas why the CSCE was established and to properly identify the role of the OSCE in the European Security Architecture. Therefore, the main part of the thesis focuses on the European Security Architecture, the OSCE itself, and the OSCE missions, three of which are detailed and evaluated as case studies.

This volume examines the development and evolution of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe during and after the Cold War.

Europe has undergone quite profound changes since the end of the Cold War. Having been a highly militarised, conflict-ridden and war-ridden region, the core of Europe today constitutes a security community where armed conflicts among the constituent states has become inconceivable. This comprehensive book offers a theoretically founded and thoroughly documented analysis of European security, with a special emphasis on the role played by the United Nations and the various regional and sub-regional organisations, especially the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe and the European Union. When it comes to explaining peace in Europe opinions differ widely. Some argue that it was only because the West refused to give in to Soviet threats that the latter eventually gave up; or that the 'long peace' in Europe was due to the combination of a bipolar alliance structure, pitting the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) against the Warsaw Pact, with the presence of nuclear weapons on both sides. Others point instead to the extraordinarily dense network of international institutions and organisations in Europe, offering a wide panoply of fora in which to handle disputes peacefully; or to the web of interdependence in economic and other affairs, tying together all states in Europe in relations which militate strongly against war. Still others believe that the external peace between the states in Europe is simply a reflection of a convergence of cultures, democracies with marked economies that are open towards the world market. These questions are the focal point of this book, which concentrates on security, albeit not in the sense of being a treatise on military matters, but security obtainable by much more indirect and non-military means. It will be required reading for all students and scholars of European security and the organisations which underpin it.

Four years after the end of the Cold War, the United States and its European allies have still not agreed on a new security system to deal with war in Yugoslavia, a restless eastern Europe, and an unstable Russia. The contributors to this timely volume evaluate reforms in the North Atlantic Alliance, the new European Union, and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). They also explore a number of critical issues: Why is it that NATO cannot end the Yugoslav conflict? Why do the Americans and West Europeans quarrel over a European Security and Defense Identity? Why is it that the states of Central and Eastern Europe cannot simply join NATO? Is the CSCE becoming the pan-European security organization that will bear responsibility for preventing or managing future conflicts? The book offers careful analysis of the pivotal years of reform between 1989 and 1992. In the first section, the contributors assess those developments from the viewpoint of the key institutions—NATO, CSCE, the European Union, and its security arm, the Western European Union (WEU). They then examine the policies of the key allies—the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France. The book concludes that the current problems in European security affairs are directly explained by the discord, divergences, and contradictions that have characterized the crucial formative years of these newly significant organizations. In the closing chapter, the editors suggest pragmatic political initiatives for strengthening these groups in the near future.