Contents | Key Points | Foreword | Preface | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Appendixes: 1 2 3 | Notes | Author

The Quest for Democratic Security The Role of the Council of Europe and U.S. Foreign Policy

Foreword

There has been considerable public debate in the past year on the challenges NATO faces as it expands into “the other Europe”—the former communist nations of the Soviet bloc. But other, less well known, regional organizations that have worked to maintain the security of Western Europe for the past half-century—including the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Council of Europe—also face profound post–Cold War challenges. To be sure, new and prospective members of these security organizations in East-Central Europe and the former Soviet Union have expanded their ranks, and such expansion has caused them to reassess their traditional missions.

     The role of these non-military organizations in the European security architecture has been greatly enhanced in the post–Cold War era. Although NATO can protect its members through the force of arms, security involves much more than military might—it has crucial social, political, and economic components that are of heightened relevance in today’s world. The other European security organizations alongside NATO work to ensure that such security has a firm foundation through the strengthening of newly established democratic institutions in the new member states.

     The dilemma is that, while “the other Europe” is drawn into the European security framework, security can never really be achieved without a change in the political cultures of new member states that have ruled their people through decades of antidemocratic ideology and institutions. In essence, the problem is to ensure that Western Europe reunites with “the other Europe” in terms of its democratic values and other institutions that promote a pervasive and formidable foundation for continental—and transatlantic—security.

     That is the mission of the Council of Europe. Although it is the oldest among the panoply of pan-European security organizations, the work of the council is perhaps the least well known—at least in the United States. However, as Heinrich Klebes explains in this Peaceworks, the council has what may be the most difficult task in the promotion of security across the continent: to inculcate in the people of East-Central Europe the values of democracy and the rule of law, and to assist governmental and judicial officials in putting those values firmly into practice. The council’s work proceeds from the theory of democratic peace: democracies are deliberative political systems and are less prone to go to war with one another than are authoritarian regimes. Thus the spread of democracy is a vital objective of the work of security organizations devoted to keeping the peace.

     While much of the literature on security focuses on its political and military dimensions, Klebes examines in this study the often neglected legal and normative foundations of security—the rule of law and parliamentary procedure as the bases for democratic security—and the Council of Europe’s work in securing these foundations. The author is more than qualified to undertake such a study. With a long career as an international civil servant in several European institutions, Klebes has held a number of positions with the Council of Europe during a lengthy tenure in the organization; he held the rank of deputy secretary general before his retirement from the council in 1996. Klebes researched and drafted this report as a 1996–97 senior fellow in the Institute’s Jennings Randolph Program for International Peace.

     Given the severe economic problems in practically all of the East-Central European communist regimes, it is not surprising that they began clamoring for membership in the Council of Europe when the first fissures appeared in the edifice of the Soviet bloc. After all, the council was viewed by them as the entry vehicle moving them toward membership in the European Union, with its attendant benefits. But membership in the council has come to mean much more than simply a gateway to the EU; indeed, to be a member of the Council of Europe requires at least a commitment to democracy and the rule of law.

     While expansion of such concepts across East-Central Europe is hailed as the precursor of a united, democratic, and peaceful Europe, the Council of Europe’s work in promoting the ideas and institutions of democratic governance has not been trouble-free. In his case studies of Estonia, Romania, and Russia, Klebes shows that the end of communist rule does not automatically mean a full embrace of democratic institutions. All three countries secured membership in the Council of Europe early on, but not without persistent monitoring by the council and other security organizations of issues that continued to set them apart from the other European democracies, particularly in the areas of minority rights, judicial systems, and security services. Further, as Klebes explains in the following pages, the rapidity of the council’s expansion into East-Central Europe as a “school of democracy” could dilute its traditional function of a “community of values” for its original West European member states.

     Is there a role for the United States in the mission of an organization that is essentially European? Klebes argues strongly in the affirmative. The United States has special guest status in the Council of Europe, and Klebes points to some of the “open” conventions the U.S. can join to firm up the vital link between U.S. and European security. However, it is in the realm of other security organizations, such as NATO and the OSCE, where the United States can have the greatest impact. Klebes makes an appeal for all European security organizations to develop much more synergy in their functions and to establish clearer complementary roles. In such a way, Klebes suggests, the United States can be more actively engaged in building a transatlantic political and security community. In short, Klebes argues, it takes much more than a focus on NATO’s collective defense guarantees for the Atlantic Alliance to be a genuine partnership.

     This Peaceworks is just one of a number of investigations of European security institutions the United States Institute of Peace has conducted in recent years, especially in its Bosnia in the Balkans Initiative and its Working Group on the Future of Europe. In fact, this is the first of a series of major publications from the Institute on the fundamental changes these European security organizations face in the post–Cold War era, including David Yost’s book, NATO Transformed: The Alliance’s New Roles in International Security (just published by the Institute’s Press), and P. Terrence Hopmann’s forthcoming study on the OSCE.

Contents | Key Points | Foreword | Preface | One | Two | Three | Four | Five | Appendixes: 1 2 3 | Notes | Author

Home  |  Jobs  |  FAQs   |  Contact Us  |  Directions  |  Privacy Policy  |  Site Map

United States Institute of Peace  --  1200 17th Street NW  -- Washington, DC 20036
(202) 457-1700 (phone)  --  (202) 429-6063 (fax)
Send Feedback