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
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. 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”
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in world politics and amidst a global shift of influence from the West to the East, we ...