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OSCE Expert Network

The Expert Network on the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a new initiative launched by the OSCE to inject new ideas and insights into the organisation’s policy ecosystem. The ELN is one of the Core Partners and is conducting research on the OSCE’s toolkit and how it could be used under different future scenarios for European security.

What?

The ELN is a Core Partner for the OSCE Expert Network and is convening a group of experts to contribute to this larger network, with the support of the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. They will bring together their expertise to discuss the most pertinent security challenges facing Europe and the current and future role of the OSCE in tackling these issues. We’ll have a particular focus on assessing the OSCE’s toolkit for the future across all its dimensions, with gender equality as a cross-cutting theme.

How?

We work closely with other Core Partners, the OSCE Secretariat and member states to inject new ideas and insights into OSCE policy processes, through meetings, briefings and research. This will include participating in an annual in-person meeting in Vienna.

As part of this work, we will conduct an in-depth research piece reviewing the OSCE and its toolbox. The report will test the efficacy of various OSCE tools and mechanisms for different phases of the conflict cycle and will provide recommendations on how to strengthen and modernise the toolkit.

Why?

The future functioning of the OSCE is a vital element in the European security architecture. This is a core topic for the ELN as an organisation seeking to prevent conflict, especially nuclear or other catastrophic conflict in Europe. The project provides a good opportunity to apply the ELN’s model of bringing an intergenerational and multinational group of current, former and future practitioners to feed into, enrich and inspire current policy development.

The larger Expert Network brings together experts from different backgrounds and geographical locations within the OSCE region to enhance the exchange of ideas and knowledge about topics relevant to the OSCE, including co-operative security and the future of the European security. The Network is inclusive and open to think tanks, independent expert organisations and academic institutions in the OSCE participating States.

Project Publications

Policy brief

From crisis to strategy: The OSCE and arms control in a divided Europe

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the OSCE has faced a deep crisis. Russia and Belarus have violated key norms of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, undermining the OSCE’s role in crisis management. Alexander Graef argues that breaking the impasse requires decisive political leadership and multi-level diplomacy. He also argues that growing military activities in Europe highlight the need for military-to-military contacts for managing escalation risks, in which the OSCE can facilitate necessary dialogues and support future monitoring activities as it has in the past.

14 March 2025 | Alexander Graef
OSCERussia-West relations
Report

Assessing the OSCE Toolbox: Opportunities for a safer Europe

For nearly 50 years, the OSCE has developed a toolbox to address security challenges across wider Europe. However, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has dismantled Europe’s existing security architecture, rendering many OSCE tools ineffective. Former ELN Policy Fellow Katia Glod argues that in spite of this, a resurgence of political commitment could reinvigorate the OSCE’s tools, enabling them to be adapted to current challenges. This report recommends concrete actions to be undertaken by the OSCE to improve the efficacy of its toolbox.

14 March 2025 | Katia Glod
OSCERussia-West relations
Commentary

It’s time to use the OSCE

As European leaders prepare a peace plan for Ukraine, ELN Policy and Impact Director Jane Kinninmont and Dr Loïc Simonet argue that they should draw on the OSCE, as the organisation that helped manage risks and offer communication channels during the Cold War, and which includes Russia along with Ukraine.

11 March 2025 | Jane Kinninmont and Loïc Simonet
OSCERussia-West relations
Report

Workshop report: The OSCE and its role in strengthening European security architecture

In July 2024, the ELN convened a group of international experts to explore the historic, current, and future role of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and its toolbox in maintaining and strengthening European security architecture. This workshop report details the participants’ discussions on the OSCE’s history, its operations in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, the role of the OSCE in conflict management and post-conflict normalisation, organisational successes and failures, and its unique status as a platform for dialogue between the West and Russia.

15 August 2024 | Maria Branea
Russia-West relations
Who's involved? - The OSCE Expert Network
Who's involved? - Staff

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