ABSTRACT
The OSCE is first and foremost aimed at preventing and managing conflict. While it has other foci, all the institutions, even those seemingly aimed at other issue-areas, are involved in security management. As we see from the discussion of the Final Act in Chapter 2, Baskets II (economic and environmental) and III (human) were directly related to Basket I (politico-military). In this regard, the OSCE’s conception of security is based on a comprehensive approach. In his critique of security studies, Johan Galtung advocates casting a wide net when determining the definition of security.1 More recently, the Copenhagen School has advocated looking at the roots of conflict, which could include societal and human insecurities.2 This comprehensive approach is that of the OSCE and all of its institutions have something to add to managing security in the Euro-Atlantic area. For example, High Commissioner Rolf Ekeus argues that the HCNM is first and foremost about conflict prevention.3
