2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (2-4) ◽  
pp. 337-349
Author(s):  
Stephanie Liechtenstein

This article analyses the outcome of the 22nd osce Ministerial Council (mc) meeting, held in Belgrade on 3 and 4 December 2015, the year that the osce celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, its founding document. The article argues that the mc meeting was characterized by entrenched positions and that it illustrated the distrust and deep divides among the 57 osce participating States. The article explains that the negotiation process was overshadowed by the ongoing Ukraine crisis and by a number of bilateral conflicts between states. The author specifies some of the bilateral conflicts and shows how they took direct influence on the negotiation process and how they led to the fall of important draft documents. As a result, the Belgrade mc adopted only 5 declarations, among them on combating violent extremism and radicalization and on combating illicit drug trafficking.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (4) ◽  
pp. 406-439
Author(s):  
Stephanie Liechtenstein

This article analyses the outcome of the 21stosce Ministerial Council (mc) meeting, held in Basel, Switzerland, on 4 and 5 December 2014. The larger political context is taken into account, especially the crisis in and around Ukraine and the renewed confrontation between the West and Russia. The article provides an extensive analysis of all adopted decisions in the three security dimensions as well as of a number of draft documents that failed to reach consensus. The main documents that are analyzed include declarations on the Helsinki+40 process and on protracted conflicts, and decisions on countering kidnapping for ransom and terrorist foreign fighters, preventing corruption, improving disaster risk reduction, and on combating violence against women. The article concludes that the Swiss osce Chairmanship helped to reaffirm the osce’s role as the main forum for political dialogue between East and West.


2006 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 4-18
Author(s):  
Victor-Yves Ghebali

2014 ◽  
Vol 24 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 307-324
Author(s):  
Stephanie Liechtenstein

Against the larger international relations background, this article analyses the outcomes of the 20th OSCE Ministerial Council (MC) meeting, which was held in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 5 and 6 December 2013. The political crisis – related to the non-signing by the Ukrainian government of the EU Association Agreement - which erupted in Ukraine in the days prior to the MC meeting is also taken into account. An analysis is made of adopted decisions in the three security dimensions as well as of drafts that failed to reach consensus. The main documents include declarations on the ‘Helsinki+40 process’ and the protracted conflicts as well as innovative cyber security measures.


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