The OSCE and the Mediation of Armed Conflicts in the Post-Soviet Space

Abstract

Established as a forum for discussing desperate issues in the field of maintaining international peace and security, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is currently involved in specific areas of maintaining security in the post-Soviet space. All institutions concerned in the security arena must respond to the nature of the European security crisis in new and unique ways. When it comes to responding to the complexity of post-Cold War conflict, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is particularly well positioned in terms of its conflict-management efforts. Because of the military interventions in the post-Soviet region, the organization concentrated on a number of specific areas including support for conflict resolution, defense of human rights, growth of democratic institutions, and election monitoring. While this would work in a hypothetical pan-European household, it is challenging to come to an agreement given the OSCE's limited ability to respond to actual disputes in Europe and rising tensions between the West and Russia. It is also essential to analyze how the organization functions as a mediator in crisis circumstances in the post-Soviet area, specifically its strategy for resolving recently renewed confrontations in the post-Soviet region. The research traces and analyzes the role of international organizations in the negotiation process to resolve local conflicts in the post-Soviet space, as well as in the implementation of practical measures of peacekeeping and post-conflict settlement, indicates the OSCE dialogue facilitation and strategies towards the conflict resolution in the Post-Soviet Space on a consensus-based decision-making model.