The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

This chapter discusses the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) provides an alternative approach to European security, which has only been adopted by the EU. As much as the Conference on Co-operation and Security in Europe (CSCE) was born out of a certain period of the Cold War known as detente, the OSCE came to represent the complex and delicate nature of the post Cold War European security architecture. The chapter looks at the development and contribution of the CSCE and the OSCE to European Security. As the geo-politics of the Cold War began to change in Europe, participating states of the CSCE began to meet on challenges to European security. The chapter focuses on the political moves towards the agreement of the founding Helsinki Final Act and Decalogue, as well as the challenges to the fledgling CSCE as the Cold War once again turned hot with the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.