The Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) in the post cold-war Europe

Résumé du document

The CSCE (Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe) was born with the Helsinki final act in 1975, as the territorial statu quo seemed definitely taken for granted by both the communist block and western countries. On the 1st of August 1975, 35 heads of states from Europe, the US and Canada signed the Final Helsinki Act (or the Helsinki accords), a political, non-binding agreement. It can be traced back to the 1950s when the Soviet Union began to devote to a desire to have a kind of 'post second World War peace conference'. The CSCE was first of all a conference that would undermine the cohesion of the Western alliance by bringing it to a common table with totalitarian countries in order to achieve a certain consensus and, even more importantly, would lead to the division of Germany and the borders of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. The CSCE was only a conference and has been instutionalized subsequently, by a series of follow-up meetings, which monitored the implementation of the Final Act and became practically the only mechanism ensuring the vitality of the process.

Extraits

[...] The OSCE is today the only organization that includes all European States and the ones born after the dislocation of the Soviet Union. (56 member states).It gives it a role in Europe that can supply the feedbacks of both the EU and NATO. What is more, if OSCE has been for a long time the place where the two blocs could gather and debate about the future of Europe in regards of the Cold War stake, it is now officially facing the post-cold war issues. [...]

[...] 46 Arie BLOED The Challenges of Change: the Helsinki Summit of the CSCE and its aftermath. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, London - Emmanuel DECAUX La Conférence sur la Sécurité et la Coopération en Europe (CSCE). [...]

[...] This is actually linked with the history of the CSCE and with its role during the Cold War. However, the OSCE presents all the advantages of a regional co-operation. It furthers stability, as proved empirically: only the will of the concerned countries can, indeed, allow reaching long-term solutions. Regional co-operation reinforce interdependence and, therefore, provides peace. As many international organizations, the OSCE has taken into consideration the fact that security (as well as environment or finance) can no longer be considered as a domestic issue. [...]

[...] A second section, on “risks reduction” aims at easing the cooperation in case of “unusual military activities” or “dangerous incident that concern army”. Finally, a third section plans visits of air force bases that had not been included in the trust measures before. These decisions are important for the definition of the new OSCE for two reasons, first, they settled a “network of rapid communication” (Summit of Paris, the Vienna document, Section IX) and an “annual meeting of evaluation” (op. [...]

[...] The three dimensions have been built on empirical construction all along the summit and treaties. The distinction between the three baskets has always defined the processes of the CSCE. After the Cold War, these baskets have been modernized, especially by the summit of Paris, whose goal was to keep all the CSCE processes, adapted in the new European order. As for the security member states signed, the day before the Paris Summit, a “common declaration” in which the former “enemies” confirmed their will to give friendship to each other. [...]