Focus OSCE is a forum, sponsored by the Swiss Federal Departement of Foreign Affairs (FDFA),  designed to stimulate discussion among academics, diplomats and policymakers on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) within the international environment of the Graduate Institute and the city of Geneva. Its core activity is the organization of an annual two-day meeting on the OSCE at the Institute and the publication of the results of the meeting in an Occasional Paper.

Highlights 2010

In September 2010 the annual conference was held once again in Geneva at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies and focused on The European Security Dialogue in Preparation of the OSCE Summit: Strengthening the OSCE Capablities for Addressing Security Threats. The conference was organized in collaboration with the Swiss FDFA and was successful in gathering diplomats, academics and other specialists on the OSCE (list of participants) in order to provide a forum for stimulating discussions. Occasional Papers are currently under preparation and will be published by December 2010.

Dr. Jamie Shea, Director of Policy Planning at the Private Office of the Secretary General of NATO discussed the OSCE and NATO with Prof. Stephanie Hofmann. Listen to the podcast.

past conferences

From 1997 to 2003, with the support of the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS), the PSIO, the Centre's predecessor organization, managed the OSCE Cluster of Competence, which met once a year to review the activities of the OSCE, and published studies on the Organization. In 2001, with the support of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), the PSIO launched the OSCE Networking website, dedicated to OSCE-related documentation, in collaboration with the Centre for OSCE Research (CORE, Hamburg).

Since 2004 the PSIO has developed the ‘Focus on the OSCE’ programme with the support of the Swiss Federal Administration (DDPS and FDFA) as a flexible instrument of reflection on and analysis of the OSCE. Annual conferences have been convened since 2004 as part of the programme:

- 2004 - ‘The Politico-Military Dimension of the OSCE: Arms Control and Conflict Management Issues’, took place in Geneva in close collaboration with the DDPS;

- 2005 - ‘The Reform of the OSCE 15 Years After the Charter of Paris for a New Europe: Problems, Challenges and Risks’ was organized in Slovenia in the context of the Slovenian Chairmanship of the OSCE in partnership with the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana;

- 2006 -  ‘Consolidating the OSCE’ was organized in the context of the Belgian Chairmanship of the OSCE with the participation of Mr Frank Geerkens, Head of the Belgian OSCE Chairmanship Task Force;

- 2007 -  ‘The OSCE at a Turning Point: OSCE Chairmanship and Other Challenges’ was organized in Geneva with the FDFA;

- 2008 - 'OSCE Future Operations and Leadership' took place in Geneva with the FDFA;

- 2009 - 'The OSCE and a New Security Governance in Europe' took place in Geneva with the participation of OSCE Secretary General, H.E. Mr. Marc Perrin de Brichambaut.

Occasional papers were published after each conference and are available on request at cig [at] graduateinstitute.ch