ABSTRACT
Bringing to an end the work started in March 1995 for the purpose of a Common and Comprehensive Security Model for Europe for the Twenty-First Century, the OSCE adopted at its fourth post-Cold War Summit a Charter for European Security. Due to numerous political differences between Russia (supported only by Belarus) and the other countries of the OSCE, the elaboration of the Charter was not an easy task. This chapter offers an analysis of the Charter from four perspectives: politico-military issues, institutional issues, operational capacities for conflict prevention and crisis management and, lastly, interface with other international security organisations. The Charter represents one of the major texts of the post-Cold War OSCE. Its main merit is that it bears witness to the growing political relevance in Europe of an otherwise low-profile organization.
