Citation

Levinger M. Genocide Stud. Prev. 2018; 11(3): e1505.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, University of Toronto Press)

DOI

10.5038/1911-9933.11.3.1505

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This essay examines the record of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in fostering norms and collaborative practices for preventing mass atrocities in Eurasia. Comprising fifty-seven participating states "from Vancouver to Vladivostok," the OSCE is the sole regional security organization spanning all of the members of NATO and the former Warsaw Pact. Its consensus-based approach to advancing "common and comprehensive security" has proved successful in preventing escalation or containing levels of violence in various conflicts in the Baltic states, Ukraine, Southeastern Europe, and the Caucasus. Since the late 1990s, however, rising geopolitical tensions between NATO and the Russian Federation have undermined the effectiveness of the OSCE's conflict prevention initiatives. In order for the OSCE to play a more robust role in enhancing human security in Eurasia, it will need to find a path toward rebuilding the normative consensus between Russia and its Western participating states.

Language: en