Projects & Activities

Launched in 2013, this was the very first of the OSCE Network’s activities. It analyzed threat perceptions of 18 governments and related experts in the OSCE area. At the invitation of the 2014 Swiss OSCE Chairmanship, several Network representatives gave a presentation of the study at a Helsinki +40 meeting at the Vienna Hofburg on 29 April 2014.

Activities

• Workshop “Threat Perceptions in the OSCE Area,” Vienna, 31 March/1 April 
• Panel Discussion on “Ukraine/Crimea: Crisis as Usual or New European Divide?” Vienna, 31 March 

The OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna held a panel discussion titled “Ukraine/Crimea: Crisis as Usual or New European Divide?”

The crisis in Crimea has evolved into a more general conflict between Russia and the West. The future of Europe is uncertain to a degree not seen since the early 1990s. This raises a number of difficult questions:

• What options exist for the further development of Ukrainian-Russian relations, including the status of Crimea?
• How did we get from a cooperative security policy approach to the current situation, which is characterized by deep tensions?
• Have we established bad precedents?
• Did we apply the OSCE principles and norms in the wrong ways?
• What opportunities were missed?
• Were any wrong turns taken?
• Is it still possible to return to cooperative policies via the vision of a Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community?
• How might this be achieved?
• What can the OSCE contribute to the re-establishment of cooperative security relations?

These and many other questions were discussed by a panel of members of the OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions.

Please view the full-length discussion as a videostream on the official OSCE website: www.osce.org/cio/116863

The OSCE Network was launched by a group of 16 institutes in Vienna on 18 June 2013 within the framework of the OSCE Security Days, in the presence of the Secretary General, Ambassador Lamberto Zannier. Four months later, following thorough preparations, the 16 institutes reconvened on 30 October 2013 in Vienna to establish working instruments and to discuss an initial network project. A “Mission Statement” and a Steering Committee were established. Sonja Stojanović Gajić (Belgrade Centre for Security Policy), Ambassador Jim Collins (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace), Andrei Zagorski (Institute for World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences (IMEMO)), and Wolfgang Zellner (CORE) were elected as members of the Steering Committee. Wolfgang Zellner’s term as Network Coordinator was extended to two years.

In accordance with the Network’s regulations, members of the OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions held a Network meeting in Vienna on 30 October 2013.

The meeting was attended by representatives of 15 member institutions, as well as 7 guests. It was sponsored by the German Federal Foreign Office and additionally supported by the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA). The International Peace Institute (IPI) kindly hosted the meeting in its marvellous conference room in the heart of Vienna.

The meeting’s agenda included the following items:

• measures for structuring the work of the OSCE Network (mission statement; steering committee: establishment, duration of mandate, duties and tasks, modus operandi; network coordinator: duration of mandate, duties and tasks);
• design of the OSCE Network website;
• steps for implementing the Network project “Threat Perceptions in Europe”;
• further Network activities, other proposals, miscellaneous issues;
• views on the OSCE Network’s contributions to future Helsinki +40 discussions.

In a separate session, the meeting was addressed by Ms Andrea Rauber Saxer, Deputy Head of the Swiss Delegation, Ambassador Sanja Milinković, Deputy Head of the Serbian Delegation, and Mr. Serhiy Dvornyk, member of the Ukrainian Delegation, who delivered presentations on their delegations’ views on the OSCE Network’s contributions to future Helsinki +40 discussions. The Eurasian element of the concept of a security community, as well as the impact of developments in Afghanistan, were, inter alia, seen as relevant issues.