What if the OSCE did not exist?

This article is part of the Special Issue on “The OSCE at 50: Reflections on security, cooperation and human rights”, published on a rolling basis between July and November 2025. The Special Issue was curated and edited by Walter Kemp and Christian Strohal, Security and Human Rights Monitor Editorial Board members and guest editors-in chief.

Abstract

Currently many politicians act as if the OSCE didn’t exist. That leads to a fragmented debate about the future of European security. The debates are taking place separately within different groupings be it in Europe, as well as between the US and Russia. Competing visions of how security in Europe should be organised arise and have a direct effect on the negotiations to end the war against Ukraine. This war is embedded in a complex set of conflicts on at least three levels with different parties pursuing different objectives. A way out could be to focus on the common question: “What would the OSCE look like if we had to reinvent it today?”

Christos Katsioulis is a political scientist and historian currently serving as Director of the Regional Office for Cooperation and Peace in Europe of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Vienna.

Keywords: European Security – Peace – Ukraine – Russia

DOI: 1058866/ 1058866/FDWQ3654