ABSTRACT
The Conference for Security and Cooperation in Europe offers a good example of the tendency international initiatives have of prolonging their own existence and forming themselves into structures: the Paris Charter of 21 November 1990 set up bodies and mechanisms that became obsolete, in part, with the dislocation of some of the States of Europe and the USSR. The partners never reached agreement, however, on the practical role the institution might play in major crises in Europe. (see 1122, 1241, 1700, 1793)
1005 – These political encounters have been supplemented by the current practice of convening meetings in order to standardise regulations and custom (examples are the Conference on the Codification of International Law in the Hague in 1950 and the Conference on the Law of the Sea that began in 1972 and ended in 1982 at Montego Bay), regulate sectors of activity or set up institutions for the
continents such as Europe or the Americas. (see 1596)
1006 – Whereas, originally, technical conferences were used as a way of satisfying the desire to facilitate all kinds of communication between countries and continents as they freed themselves from the excessive constraints of traditional frontiers, they later became increasingly frequent in various sectors where the need arose for longer-term cooperation between national administrations. Major conferences today require months or even years of preparation and their participants can number hundreds or thousands. (see 2056)
1007 – The techniques used in institutional conferences have progressively moved away from those of formal diplomatic congresses, and they now include a new normative power that plays an important constituent role.
