Ethnic peace in the east: Transnational networks and the CSCE/OSCE

Abstract

While a great deal is made of the international community's inability to prevent ethnic violence in Yugoslavia, little attention has been paid to international efforts to manage ethnic conflicts in the years since. With an emphasis on the spearheading initiatives of the CSCE/OSCE, this article fleshes out the meaning of the so-called ‘Bosnia effect’. It contends that, by the middle of the 1990s, a transnational network of governmental and non-governmental organizations had adopted overlapping, reinforcing strategies and principles to encourage ethnic cooperation in Eastern Europe. While this transnational network focused on ethnic conflict management did not prevent violence everywhere, this article explains the unique networking behaviour of transnational actors and demonstrates its effect on the transformation of ethnic politics in a case study of Latvia.

Notes

1. On 1 January 1995 the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe became the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Unless I am referencing a specific date and or policy, I refer to this organization as the CSCE/OSCE.

2. Because of space constraints, I am not able to address the strategies and efforts of non-governmental organizations.

3. Primary sources related to the CSCE/OSCE, including the CSCE/OSCE Mission in Latvia were gathered in Prague at the CSCE/OSCE's Documentation and Information Centre from June to August 2004. Primary sources related to the European Union were gathered in Brussels at the European Commission library. In total, more than 60 people were interviewed in both Europe and the USA and many more informal conversations, telephone interviews, and email communications enriched this research.

4. Interview with Armands Gutmanis, Under Secretary of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, and former advisor in the State President's Office, July 2004, Riga.

5. Some do recognize the complementary mechanisms of different actors. See, for example, Pentassuglia (2001/02).

6. See ‘The CSCE Helsinki Document 1992: The Challenges of Change’, specifically the Helsinki Declaration.

7. ‘Secretary General's Intervention at the CSCE/OSCE Permanent Council’, PC.DEL/668/00 2 November 2000.

8. ‘Contribution by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’, REF.S/97/96, 29 November 1996.

9. Interview with Walter Kemp, Senior CSCE/OSCE Adviser and HCNM Political Officer 1999–2003, Vienna, June 2004.

10. See, for example, the ‘Second Conference on the Human Dimension of the CSCE’, 5 June–29 July 1990, Copenhagen; and ‘Prague Document on the Further Development of CSCE Institutions and Structures: Declaration on Non-Proliferation and Arms Transfer’, January 1992, available online at: http://www.CSCE/OSCE.org/docs/english/1990-1999.

11. For forms of cooperation with various organizations and in specific countries, see ‘Co-operation with International Organizations and Institutions: Selected Documents and Catalogue of Forms of Co-operation’, COOP_DRF.DOC/04.11.94.

12. Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe Final Act, Helsinki 1975, esp. pp. 47–51.

13. See Second Meeting of the Council, Prague Document on Further Development of CSCE Institutions and Structures, Prague, 30–31 January 1992, ch. IX, paras 43–44; and CSCE Communication No. 124, Prague, 3 April 1992.

14. ‘Exchange of information and documents;, CSCE Journal, 3, Annex 2, 10 January 1992.

15. Prague Document on Further Development of CSCE Institutions and Structures: Declaration on Non-Proliferation and Arms Transfers, January 1992.

16. ‘Secretary General Intervention at CSCE.OSCE Permanent Council’, PC.DEL/668-00, 2 November 2000.

17. CSCE Communication No. 8, Vienna, 312 January 1994, Reference No. 1463/93/L.

18. Interview with Valdis Birkvas, former Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Riga, 14 July 2004.

19. Ibid., 14 July 2004.

20. CSCE Mission to Latvia, Activity Report, No. 7, 2 August 1994.

21. ‘Press Release of the CSCE Chairmanship-in-Office of the CSCE with regard to the adoption of the Law on Citizenship by the Latvian Parliament On 22 July 1994’, Doc. 575/94, 16 August 1994.

22. ‘Statement by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia’, 4 August 1994, unofficial translation.

23. Republic of Latvia Information about the Implementation of Paragraph 5 of the Helsinki Summit Declaration 1992, CSCE Document, Stockholm Council Meeting of December 1992.

24. Interview with Inga Reina, Representative of the Government of Latvia before International Human Rights Organizations, Riga, July 2004.

25. Ibid.

26. HCNM.GAL/3/98, ‘Letter from the Prime Minister of Latvia, M. R. Guntars Krasts, 24 April 1998, to HCNM and his letter of reply, 30 April 1998.

27. Interview with Valdis Birkvas, former prime minister and minister of foreign affairs of Latvia, Riga, 14 July 2004.

28. Press Statement of the OSCE HCNM, Mr Max van der Stoel, Riga, 17 April 1998, INF./1/98, 20 April 1998.

29. Interview with Eiyenija Aldermane, Riga, July 2004.

30. Ibid.

31. Interview with Olef Bruvers, Director, Latvian National Human Rights Office, Riga, July 2004.

32. Interview with Daigma Holma, UNDP, Riga, July 2004.

33. Interview with Reinos Alboltins, Riga, July 2004.

34. Interview with Nils Sakks, Riga, July 2004.

35. Interview with Inga Reina, Riga, July 2004.