Strengthening the Role of the OSCE in Times of Increased Tensions and Emerging Crisis Situations
Strengthening the Role of the OSCE in Times of Increased Tensions and Emerging Crisis Situations
The Untapped Potential in the European Arms Control Framework
Key Points
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Amid one of the deepest crises of confidence since the end of the Cold War, arms control and military confidence-building frameworks are struggling to develop their full de-escalating and trust-building potential.
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In fact, numerous crisis situations in the past show that the findings of national verification procedures are particularly prone to the risk of serious political disputes and, in the worst case, can sometimes even become the source of additional tensions and distrust.
- While clearly not alone able to resolve the deep crisis in European security, lessons learned from other international organisations suggest that giving the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) the power and resources to conduct verification procedures on behalf of its participating States could make an important contribution towards a more resilient European arms control and military confidencebuilding framework in times of increased political tensions and distrust.
Dr Benjamin Schaller is a research fellow at and recent PhD graduate of UiT – the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsø. His research interests include arms control and military confidence-building measures, NATO Russian relations, Arctic security, and the role of trust and distrust in defence and security politics. He has professional experience from the German Federal Foreign Office, where he previously worked as a desk officer for arms control and military confidence-building and has done once more since July 2020. He is also a fellow of the Arms Control Negotiation Academy led by the Negotiation Task Force at Harvard University’s Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
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