Policy Brief Number 8: Formulating an OSCE Summit Agenda

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The Security Dimension

Executive Summary

The last OSCE summit, at which key decisions on pan-European security were adopted, took place in Istanbul in November 1999. These decisions included the Agreement of Adaptation of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) and associated political commitments, the Charter for European Security, and the revised Vienna Document of the Negotiations on Confidence and Security Building Measures. The Adapted CFE Treaty has yet to enter into force and the original CFE Treaty of 1990 is at risk of becoming irrelevant following Russia’s unilateral suspension of its implementation in December 2007. The Vienna Document is showing its age and requires revisions and amendments to increase and improve transparency and confidence in the contemporary OSCE security environment.

Under the Charter for European Security, the OSCE envisioned developing conflict prevention tools and an OSCE role in peacekeeping operations. Recent events in Kyrgyzstan and the 2008 Russia-Georgia war demonstrated that OSCE is far from being effective in crisis prevention. Moreover, since the Istanbul summit and the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States , new security threats have emerged. NATO’s military operations in Afghanistan in order to quell terrorist threats emanating from the country have impacted on security in the OSCE region bordering Afghanistan . Furthermore, in 2008, Russia offered a proposed treaty on European security, which in turn led to the OSCE Corfu Process focused on updating the OSCE’s mechanisms and activities in all three dimensions: military, economic and human. 

OSCE heads of states need to convene for a new summit to make important strategic decisions for the future of the OSCE and the broader Europe. They need to develop a comprehensive strategy to address contemporary security challenges, including a multitude of cross-border threats, failing states, ethnic conflicts, and insufficient democratic mechanisms throughout the OSCE region. While security in most of Europe is largely ensured through NATO and EU membership, the Eurasian region remains unstable due to the situation in Afghanistan and what can be seen as the ongoing disintegration of the former Soviet Union. In such conditions, the OSCE needs vision, leadership, political will, and a mandate to address emerging challenges that might prove even more serious than the West Balkan wars in the 1990s.

U.S.-Kazakhstan OSCE Task Force