About
The project on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe contributes to the regional organization's security dialogue, with a particular focus on emerging dynamics of security and generational perspectives. The project offers research, analyses and examinations of the regional organization's security dialogue and a forum for analyzing and evaluating emerging security challenges facing the organization and its 57 member states and 11 observer states. To do so, the projects fosters insights on negotiations and diplomatic interactions with an emphasis on involving political practitioners from outside the organization into the traditional ranks of OSCE practices and field operations. Visiting practitioners include, Amb. Clemens Koja, frmr, Chair of the Permanent Council of the OSCE during the 2017 Austrian Chairmanship; Amb. Florian Raunig frmr. Task Force Head for the 2017 Austrian Chairmanship; Amb. Christian Strohal; frmr. Special Representative of the Chairperson-in-Office during the 2017 Austrian Chairmanship; and other representatives. The project has a team of dedicated student associates and is open to any interested.
Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, founding director of the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD), advises the 2017 chairmanship-in-office and will co-chair special academic programs for the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Austria has been elected chair of the OSCE for 2017, and Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz serves as chairperson-in-office. Danspeckgruber and LISD, with the support of the Principality of Liechtenstein, will convene several high-level meetings throughout 2017 and work on security dialogue under the perspectives of generational perceptions of security. Planned meetings will include a gathering of the key think tanks from all OSCE states; colloquia on the influence of religion, values and culture on security; as well as on economics, connectivity and security; on the role of China in the OSCE realm; on radicalization and terrorism; and on the emerging definition of “security.” In preparation for this collaboration, LISD has already convened several colloquia and retreats over the past two years focused on analyzing and evaluating emerging security challenges in Princeton, N.J.; Washington, D.C.; the Principality of Liechtenstein; Berlin, Germany; and Vienna, Austria.
The OSCE is the world’s largest security organization with 57 participating states and 11 cooperating countries throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. The OSCE works for stability and security, human rights, democracy, minorities, socioeconomic and environmental matters for more than one and a half billion people, through political dialogue and field activities on the basis of joint principles and commitments. Its decisions are taken on the basis of consensus. The OSCE was established after the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Helsinki, Finland, in 1975 and is headquartered in Vienna, Austria. The organization provides a space for political dialogue on a wide range of security issues and a platform for joint action to improve the lives of individuals and communities. The OSCE attempts to bridge differences and build trust between states by co-operating on conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. Specifically, it focuses on military security, cybersecurity, conflict prevention, confidence and security building measures (CSBM); socioeconomic and environmental issues; and human rights, minorities, democracy building, election observation, media freedom. Its memberstates – from Vancouver to Vladivostok – include the U.S.A. and Canada, all NATO and EU member states, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Russia and all former Soviet Union States, Mongolia, and also, as partners, Australia, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Israel, Jordan, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, thus making the OSCE the world’s largest security-focused international organization. View the full list of participating states and OSCE activities and documents here.
Seminar on Global Diplomatic and Security Challenges (GDSC)
The Seminar on Global Diplomatic and Security Challenges (GDSC) is a year-long interactive seminar led by Wolfgang Danspeckgruber, Founding Director of LISD, which affords participating students the opportunity to participate in in-depth discussion on select issues critical for contemporary diplomacy and security with eminent experts and representatives in an interdisciplinary and interactive virtual venue. The GDSC will explore conceptual dimensions like perception, predictability, realpolitik, trust, leadership, strategy, sphere of influence, sovereignty and self-determination; focus on geo-strategic developments and crises in regions like the Arctic, EurAsia, the Mediterranean, the wider Middle East, the Caucasus, Central and South Asia, North East Asia; and deal specifically with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), and the United Nations (UN). The seminar will analyze critical global challenges, such as the SARS2 Covid-19 Pandemic, inequality, the environmental challenges; as well as the role of media, and new technologies.
Participating students, the GDSC Fellows, are expected to register for the entire academic year 2020/21 and are expected to attend all sessions. Special arrangements will be made so that the Fellows will have additional time with speakers to discuss their interests in a more private forum. Fellows are required to attend all sessions, complete one brief assignment/commentary (approx. 3,000 words) at the end of the Fall Semester and compose an approx. 6,000-word final paper by end of the Spring Semester, 2021. Of those final papers, the research papers which meet the criteria of completion will be presented at an international meeting, anticipated to be held abroad in the summer of 2021.
For all inquiries about the program and to submit your application, please contact Ms. Kristen Cuzzo at kcuzzo@princeton.edu. To apply, please email Ms. Cuzzo your (a) name, (b) class year, (c) intended concentration, (d) a few lines about previous work, as it pertains to the seminar theme, (e) independent research interests, and (f) reason for wanting to participate.
