This summer the world celebrates the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Helsinki Final Act. The jubilee session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly was held in Finland's capital in early July, but the festivities turned pretty sour since Finland banned the entry of several members of the Russian delegation and Moscow refused to attend amidst the Russia-West relationship having become very problematic due the ongoing Ukraine crisis and sanctions.
Here RIAC Program Manager Natalia Evtikhevich, PhD...
Over the course of the last forty years, the OSCE’s “area of responsibility” remains a zone of protracted conflicts. Certainly, the amount of violence in the region is less acute in comparison to other hot beds across the globe; however, the number and nature of potential conflicts on its territory give reason enough for careful consideration and urgent action. Be it dormant hostilities in the Balkans or Transnistria, the smoldering stand-off in Nagorno Karabakh, or the frozen conflicts...
... Helsinki Accords were signed, the CSCE’s three “baskets,” or main spheres, were agreed upon: politico-military, economic-ecological and humanitarian dimensions
[2]
. This comprehensive understanding went far beyond traditional notions of international security. Thus already at the time of its establishment, the OSCE was able to step into the future. It was its first breakthrough achievement.
The achievement of a balance between the two systems and the desire to maintain it was one of ...
The Helsinki Final Act of 1975 was a political breakthrough in Cold War Europe. Despite being hardline adversaries, the West and the Communist bloc managed to agree on common principles for the conduct of foreign and domestic policy. These principles included sovereign equality, refraining from the threat or use of force, and respect for human rights. The Helsinki Final Act helped European countries on both sides of the Iron Curtain to overcome their divide. After 1991, the CSCE/OSCE was the spearhead...
... transformation of the international system. New centers of power are rising, the impact of the information revolution on mankind’s activities is growing dramatically, and regional integration processes are intensifying. Most of the traditional international security threats are still present, while new challenges to the world community are on the horizon.
In an era of growing “turbulence”
[2]
in world politics and amidst a global shift of influence from the West to the East, we ...
... September 2014 and the second by the Marshall Fund of the United States in
Washington
in November 2014. The next gathering will take place in Belgrade next May.
Within the framework of this project RIAC organizes an
essay contest for young experts
.
Helsinki +40 seminar #3 - UI/Swedish Parliament, Stockholm, 11 March 2015
On November 18, 2014 in Washington, DC, the German Marshall Fund of the United States held seminar “
Helsinki+40: the Significance for Transatlantic Relations
”, the second one in the series initiated by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly within
project “Helsinki+40.”
Last September, a similar event
took place in Moscow
. The Washington session was attended by GMF President Karen Donfreid, OSCE PA President Ilkka Kanerva, Cochairman of “Helsinki+40” project Joao...
RIAC Report #16
The dramatic developments in Ukraine in 2014 have once again demonstrated the relevance of the cooperative crisis management tools and mechanisms of the OSCE.
Issues of strengthening and reforming the OSCE are once again part of the European agenda.
The 40th anniversary of the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe represents an important milestone in the development of the organization and provides an occasion for a frank discussion about the problems...
... crises and should remain an actor within practical politics. The "Helsinki+40" project is a platform for discussing international security and scenarios for building a new security architecture.
The seminar was part of the
OSCE PA project
timed ... ... held in July 2015, in parallel with the 24th Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.
International Seminar "Helsinki +40 Process: Prospects for Strengthening the OSCE"
Interview with Andrei Zagorski
In the run-up to the international seminar “Helsinki +40: Prospects for strengthening the OSCE”, which will be held by the Russian International Affairs Council, we talked to Professor
Andrei Zagorski
of MGIMO University, head of department at the Institute of World Economy and International ...