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This article analyses the role of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in the field of climate security. In 2021, the OSCE unanimously adopted a ministerial decision on climate change despite rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and the US. Why and how was this possible? The article answers these questions, drawing on a unique set of qualitative data collected from interviews with diplomats and officials conducted during Sweden's OSCE chairpersonship. The analytical framework draws on the concept of communities of practice to analyse how Swedish and like-minded diplomats built on the OSCE's approach to security to informally expand the domain of knowledge on climate-related security risks in the organization. The article suggests that the current political impasse in the OSCE does not necessarily mean that initiatives advanced by groups of like-minded states, in collaboration with the OSCE secretariat, need to be paralyzed. The findings reveal important features of multilateral diplomacy on climate security as well as how the OSCE works in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many policy and academic debates focus on the extent to which Russia is a revisionist power challenging the 'liberal world order'. However, there is little agreement on the primary motives explaining the behaviour of Russia, some pointing to her unsatisfied great power ambitions and neo-imperial ideologies, and others to genuine security concerns. Adjudicating those claims is important because of their policy implications for engagement and/or deterrence towards Russia. This article contributes to this debate through a theoretical contribution to practice-based approaches to International Relations. Using De Certeau's understanding of practices, it analyses Russian diplomatic practices in multilateral security organisations and illustrates how this helps infer foreign policy motives, contrary to the field-specific relationalism of Bourdieu-inspired practice approaches. Empirically, it builds on 126 interviews and participant observation in three multilateral security organisations (the United Nations, the NATO–Russia Council and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe). The article shows that at least since 2014, Russian diplomats in the three organisations consistently defend policies and use narratives that reveal more interest in status recognition, sometimes at the expense of security concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how increased tensions between Russia and the West in the wake of the Ukraine crisis impact the conflict management work of the OSCE. It first looks at Russian perspectives of the OSCE and focuses on how these changed in the post-2014 period. It then proceeds with an overview of implications resulting from geopolitical tensions between Russia and the West that could positively or negatively affect the role of the OSCE in conflict management in the long term. The article ends by laying out 4 scenarios on how the situation and the OSCE could evolve and argues that in the near future a continuation of the status quo is most probable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC) as of July 2016. It offers information on CEC which was established under election law as a collective state body and is responsible for organizing elections. The main characteristics of the commission are discussed as well as its election resolutions, and its international activities.

The article presents a speech delivered by the Chairman of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation at a session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France on October 1, 2013. Topics of the speech include indifference in the context of international law, the work of PACE, and Russian laws concerning rallies, the blacklisting of websites, and homosexuality.

This essay explores Russia's Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) policy, by focusing on two questions. First of all, analysts have noted Russia's disinterest and obstructive policies towards the Organization. Thus, the question is what – if anything – does the Russian Federation still want from the OSCE? Secondly, does the OSCE still serve as a forum for dialog? These two issues are studied on the basis of rational institutionalism and realism. The essay demonstrates that Russia is still interested in the OSCE, but its policy has become more pragmatic, selective and instrumentalist. It includes obstructive and constructive strategies. At the same time, today the Russian Federation ascribes less significance to the Organization in European security. This is predetermined not only by its inability to push its interests through the OSCE, but also by the declining interest of other participating States in the Organization. The differences between OSCE participants have turned it into a battlefield of interests in many areas. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article is a study about the measures that European organizations take in response to violations of media freedom in Russia. Despite vigorous efforts, the media situation has not improved considerably. What are the reasons for the apparent inefficiency of the European enforcement mechanism? To overcome the tangle of sometimes contradictory historical, sociological, philosophical, and mere pragmatic explanations, one has to distinguish obstacles at the conceptual level from obstacles at the level of implementation. I will argue that insistence on a specific Russian mentality and another idea of freedom of expression in the Russian context is a mere rhetorical trick of the ruling political forces to hide the lack of democratic commitment in Russia and to avoid criticism from the West. Whereas these 'ideological' reasons-or, at least, their historical necessity-can be rejected, 'practical' reasons for the small impact of European measures cannot be denied. When exclusively addressing those responsible in the Russian government, European organizations underestimate not only reluctance by the Russian authorities but also the complexity of the whole situation. Without a change of journalistic behavior and some institutions closely connected with the work of journalists-and, most notably, a comprehensive alteration of public opinion-it is improbable that the situation of the media will change in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author focuses on the ongoing struggle faced by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to find its functional niche. Topics include how the organization continue to lose its relevance due to the inertia of Cold War, lack of its institutionalization, and the activities of the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), OSCE as an instrument for tripartite interaction between Russia, EU, and the U.S., and the need for organizational reform.

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The August 2008 war between Russia and Georgia has had a major negative impact on the security of the Black Sea region. However, the conflict not only elevated the perception of threat among regional states, it also opened a window of opportunity for making progress on important regional issues including other protracted regional conflicts such as Nagorno-Karabakh, redefining the role of Turkey and Russia in the region, expanding the EU role, and starting new discussions on regional and wider European security. This article assesses the prospects for creating a comprehensive cooperative security community in the Black Sea region, possible drivers for enhanced regional cooperation, and major obstacles that hinder the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Central Asian & Caucasian Studies is the property of International Strategic Research Organization and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article examines the need for international cooperation in the area of international security, with emphasis given to the need for a strong alliance between Russia and the Western world. The author begins by commenting on the work of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), noting that it is not considered a full international organization by the United Nations (UN). He notes the probably inability of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) to facilitate pan-European security.