Eurasian Studies Balkans, Anatolia, Iran, Caucasus and Central Asia Studies Notebooks

Series | Eurasian Studies
Edited book | Armenia, Caucasus, and Central Asia
Chapter | The OSCE and EU Actions towards Georgian Separatist Conflicts: the Case of South Ossetia

The OSCE and EU Actions towards Georgian Separatist Conflicts: the Case of South Ossetia

Abstract

Both the OSCE and the EU got involved in the management of the Georgian-South Ossetian conflict considering it as a testing ground for their capacities to act as security actors and easier to deal with in comparison with the other unsolved confrontations in the Post-Soviet area. By this way, they disregarded the root causes of the conflict and then proved unable to deploy the necessary resources to respond to the security expectations of the two sides, especially since the regional geopolitical environment switched from cooperation to confrontation between Russia and an expanding NATO presence. Following the 2008 War, the EU is left as the only mediating player on the ground but is not recognised as such by the SO side supported by Russia while Georgia has thwarted the possibilities of conflict resolution adopting a punitive ‘Occupied Territories’ narrative.


Open access | Peer reviewed

Submitted: March 19, 2019 | Accepted: April 17, 2019 | Published Oct. 17, 2019 | Language: en

Keywords CaucasusEU-Russia RelationsPost-soviet ConflictsInternational OrganisationsDe facto States


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