Romanian Military Thinking

Geopolitics • Geostrategy • International Security
decisions. The internal organisation of OSCE still has numerous ambiguities and weaknesses.
The transition from the status of “participating” states to the one of “member states”
might increase the international relevance of OSCE.
On the other hand, the fact that the same states belong to both the Council of Europe
and to OSCE might raise the issue of the legitimacy regarding the existence of two
institutions with missions that are mostly similar.
OSCE enjoys its credibility in the Southern Caucasus, but it does not have the
necessary power and means in order to settle the great issues of the region; it only plays
the role of an observer. The fields in which OSCE is viable are: the monitorization
of electoral activities and of the ones in the field of human rights (particularly minorities),
the transition from electoral democracy to functional democracy and the state of law,
political dialogue strengthening, conflicts rapid prevention, armament control and democratic
institutions reconstruction. Still, it is necessary for OSCE to become much more than
an observer of the differences and the conflicts in the region, focusing its attention
especially on the political, economic and military dimensions of security.
The organisation will not become a truly relevant institution as long as there has
not been a single conflict settled through its agency (see the case of the frozen conflicts
in Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Transnistria). It remains to be seen
if the role of OSCE as an institution that maintains the status quo, through multilateral
negotiations, in frozen conflicts is enough to keep it functioning.
CIS
The Community of Independent States no longer has the same initial solidity.
Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova look more and more persistently towards Europe,
and Georgia has even announced the possibility to withdraw from the organisation.
There are still a number of agreements in force at the level of Armed Forces, Ministry
of Defence, Ministry of Interior and Intelligence Services from the CIS that Ukraine
and the Republic of Moldova are part of and which are incompatible with the status
of a NATO member state.
GUAM
Within the Kiev Summit held on May 23, 2006, GUAM (Georgia, Ukraine, Azerbaijan,
Moldova) was renamed as the Organisation for Democracy and Economic Development
GUAM ~ ODED-GUAM. Its objectives are numerous, priority being given to the energy
security on the Caspian-Caucasus-Black Sea axis and the free trade between member
states, as well as the promotion of democracy.
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The Black Sea is, first of all, a synthesis area, in which relations have a historic tradition
and, consequently, today, its neighbours – allies, partners, other states – can expand
the exercise of cooperation in and for security.
The notion of area or region of the Black Sea is used in a more flexible way. Defining
the Black Sea region is complex, and interpretations are often different. The region is
seen either as a geopolitical entity resulted following historic processes – a community
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