The OSCE as an agent of socialisation? International norm Dynamics and political change in Central Asia

Abstract

This article uses both rationalist and constructivist approaches to explain the OSCE's potential to socialise Central Asia to the norms of liberal human rights and democracy. Whereas from a rational point of view socialisation consists of a process of reinforcement, and its effectiveness depends on the balance between the international and domestic costs and benefits of norm compliance, the constructivist pathway emphasises the legitimacy and domestic resonance of the international norms, and the identity and cognitive prior attitudes of the target actors. By examining the explanatory factors for successful socialisation suggested by both mechanisms it is found that the prospects for domestic change are bleak and hampered by Central Asia's autochthon culture and institutions as well as the OSCE's ineffectiveness in providing tangible material and political incentives. Recommendations concentrate on a better understanding of the cost – benefit calculations of incumbent elites and on a more responsive attitude to Central Asia's non-European political culture.

Notes

¹Even former OSCE Secretary General, Wilhelm Höynck, assessed the OSCE's record in Central Asia as ‘mixed at best’ (Höynck 2003, p. 311).

²Sultanism arises when traditional domination develops an administration and a military force which are purely personal instruments of the ruler operating primarily on the basis of discretion (Weber 1964, pp. 62 – 63, 347 – 348).

³OSCE, Lisbon Document, Doc. S/1/96, 3 December 1996, available at: http://www.osce.org/documents/mcs/1996/12/4049_en.pdf, accessed 23 April 2004.

⁴All mandates are available on the relevant mission pages at: http://www.osce.org. The three OSCE dimensions of comprehensive security are derived from the three ‘baskets’ of the Helsinki Final Act.

⁵For a qualitative overview of OSCE projects in Central Asia see Zannier (2003).

⁶This judgement is in accordance with the Helsinki Final Act and other major conventions which first linked the justice and good health of domestic government and society with regional security. ODIHR, OSCE Human Dimension Commitments: A Reference Guide, Warsaw, 2001, available at: http://www.osce.org/documents/odihr/2001/01/1764_en.pdf, accessed 14 June 2004.

⁷For a very critical report see International Crisis Group, The OSCE in Central Asia: A New Strategy, Asia Report, No. 38, 11 September 2002, available at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/report_archive/A400769_11092002.pdf, accessed 11 March 2003.

⁸Also available at: http://osce.org/documents/pc/2006/01/17865_en.pdf, accessed 22 March 2007.

⁹OSCE, The Secretary General, Annual Report on OSCE Activities in 2004, Vienna, 28 April 2005, p. 144, available at: http://www.osce.org/publications/sg/2005/04/14066_269_en.pdf, accessed 11 May 2005.

¹⁰For an in-depth description of socialisation through reinforcement see Schimmelfennig (2000, pp. 109 – 139).

¹¹Bruce Pannier, ‘Kazakhstan: Astana Seeks OSCE Rotating Chairmanship in 2009’, in RFE/RL, 3 November 2005, available at: http://www.rferl.org/featuresarticle/2005/11/093c2712-1bed-4129-88d8-fdc65d8a14d4.html, accessed 14 November 2006.

¹²See for example the OSCE mission statement for Tajikistan, available at: http://www.osce.org/tajikistan/13484.html, accessed 23 November 2004.

¹³For the logic of shaming with regard to social learning see Risse and Sikkink (1999, p. 14).

¹⁴For example, Kazakh opposition leader Zharmakhan Tuyakbay has described the 2005 presidential elections as ‘the height of dishonesty and injustice’, referring explicitly to an ODIHR press release that denounced the poll as failing to meet international standards for democratic elections (Baituova, ‘Kazakh Opposition Claims Mass Violations’, in Reporting Central Asia, No. 426, 11 December 2005, available at: http://www.iwpr.net/?p=rca&s=f&o=258586&apc_state=henirca2005, accessed 14 December 2005).

¹⁵ Declaration by the Nine Heads of State (2004); Appeal of the CIS Member States for the OSCE Partners, adopted in Astana, 526th Plenary Meeting of the PC, 23 September 2004, PC.Jour/562/Corr.1, available at: http://www.belarusembassy.org/news/digests/pr092004.htm, accessed 22 March 2007.

¹⁶In early 2004, Mikhail Margelov, head of the Russian Federation Council's Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote an article for Nezavisimaya Gazeta in which he refers to the OSCE ministerial Council as being a ‘meeting place for well-educated alcoholics’ and the OSCE itself as a ‘dump’ (see Margelov 2004). See also Richard Weitz, ‘Russia and the United States Wrestle for Control of the OSCE Agenda’, in Eurasia Insight, 8 January 2007, available at: http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav010807a_pr.shtml, accessed 14 March 2007.

¹⁷The literature has identified a fairly consistent catalogue of favourable conditions of social learning. For a summary see Schimmelfennig (2005a, note 23, p. 7), and Gheciu (2005, pp. 982 – 983).

¹⁸See, for example, Martin Lipset (1996, at p. 153) and Gellner (1994, pp. 15 – 29).

¹⁹Gregory Gleason, ‘Asian Values and the Democratic Transition in Central Asia’, Harvard Asia Quarterly, 5, 1, Winter 2001, available at: http://www.asiaquarterly.com/content/view/91/40/, accessed 23 November 2003.

²⁰For a more security related analysis of clan politics see Matveeva (1999, pp. 32 – 33).

²¹International Crisis Group, The OSCE in Central Asia: A New Strategy, Asia Report, No. 38, 11 September 2002, p. 20, note 12, available at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/report_archive/A400769_11092002.pdf, accessed 11 March 2003.

²²International Crisis Group, The OSCE in Central Asia: A New Strategy, Asia Report, No. 38, 11 September 2002, p. 12, available at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/report_archive/A400769_11092002.pdf, accessed 11 March 2003.

²³See International Crisis Group, The OSCE in Central Asia: A New Strategy, Asia Report, No. 38, 11 September 2002, p. 12, available at: http://www.crisisgroup.org/library/documents/report_archive/A400769_11092002.pdf, accessed 11 March 2003.

²⁴Marti Athisaari, ‘Address at the Permanent Council of the OSCE’, PC.DEL/954/03, 5 September 2003, pp. 1 – 2, available at: http://www.cmi.fi/?content=speech&id=60, accessed 22 March 2007.

²⁵One of the core tenets of endogenous democratisation theory is that economic development breeds democracy; see, for example, Boix and Stokes (2003, pp. 517 – 549).

²⁶Also avaiable at: http://bcsia.ksg.harvard.edu/BCSIA_content/documents/CSP_7.pdf, accessed 22 March 2007.