The OSCE: A Pan-European Society in the Making?

This article applies an English School analysis of international society to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). It argues that in a post-enlargement Europe, the OSCE has a continuing role to play in socializing its members into norms and values consistent with a regional international society despite its lack of legal enforcement instruments, and the frequent divergence of its participating states from the rules and principles of collective engagement intrinsic to the Helsinki process. In so doing, the OSCE contributes to a thin-thick continuum of international society in a manner that is functionally and structurally relevant.