The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the world's largest regional security organisation, possesses most of the attributes traditionally ascribed to an international organisation, but lacks a constitutive treaty and an established international legal personality. Moreover, OSCE decisions are considered mere political commitments and thus not legally binding. As such, it seems to correspond to the general zeitgeist, in which new, less formal actors and forms of international cooperation gain prominence, while traditional actors and instruments of international law are in stagnation. However, an increasing number of voices - including the OSCE participating states - have been advocating for more formal and autonomous OSCE institutional structures, for international legal personality, or even for the adoption of a constitutive treaty. A new book edited by Mateja Steinbrück Platise, Carolyn Moser and Anne Peters analyses why and how these demands have emerged, critically analyses the reform proposals and provides new arguments for revisiting the OSCE legal framework.
Mateja Steinbrück Platise / Carolyn Moser / Anne Peters (eds), The Legal Framework of the OSCE, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2018.
The book is the outcome of the international conference “Between Aspirations and Realities: Strengthening the Legal Framework of the OSCE”, held on 13 July 2016 in Berlin, and of a broader research project on the topic. For more details, see https://www.mpil.de/en/pub/research/areas/public-international-law/the-osce-legal-framework.cfm
Our book launch conversation, marking the publication of this timely and comprehensive analysis, shall bring together a group of experts from various disciplinary and professional backgrounds, to critically reflect upon the arguments and observations developed in the book and to provide for a new impetus to the debate.
Programme:
10:00 – 10:30 Arrival / Coffee
10:30 Welcome Alexandra Kemmerer
10:30 - 10:45 Introduction Dr Mateja Steinbrück Platise
10:45 – 12:15 Panel Discussion
Moderator: Dr Carolyn Moser
12:15 – 12:30 Conclusions: Professor Anne Peters
12:30 – 13:30 Exchanges
Please register in advance at berlin@mpil.de