Successful Small States in the OSCE and the German Chairmanship of 2016 – Christian Nünlist

Title: Successful Small States in the OSCE and the German Chairmanship of 2016
Author: Christian Nünlist

Successful Small States in the OSCE and the German Chairmanship of 2016 [Nünlist]

Abstract

The German chairmanship in 2016 will be an interesting diplomatic experiment for the OSCE. Germany is the most powerful OSCE participating state ever at the helm of the organization in its 20-year history. Previously, small states have predominantly held the voluntary OSCE presidency. This article reviews the performance of OSCE small states in chairing the organization since 1995. Both the motives for campaigning for the job as well as the factors that have determined whether the 12-month presidency job was done successfully or not, are analysed. The article concludes with a warning against setting the expectations too high for the 2016 German chairmanship.

Keywords

OSCE Chairmanship – small states – Helsinki process (1972–1994) – neutral and non-aligned states (NNA) – Germany – East-West relations – Russia and the OSCE

Metadata

Title: Successful Small States in the OSCE and the German Chairmanship of 2016
Author: Christian Nünlist
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/18750230-02601002
Language: English
Year: 2015
Volume: 26
Issue: 1
Pages: 48–64
In: Security and Human Rights
E-ISSN: 1875-0230