Abstract
TOWARDS A COMMUNITY OF VALUES? THE CONFERENCE ON SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE AND HUMAN RELATIONS IN EAST-WEST RELATIONS 1975-89-
Abstract
This study seeks to explore the issue of human rights as a source of conflict in East - West relations, within the framework of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE). Our focus is particularly on the extent to which premises introduced by Western participating states to the Helsinki Final Act and the ensuing CSCE process of follow-up meetings have become acknowledged standards for state behaviour in both East and West.
Our point of departure is the truism that before behavioural revolutions come conceptual revolutions. The fact that states undergo major changes in their officially articulated foreign policy orientation in itself merits attention. This study attempts to shed light on the 'conceptual revolution' that has taken place in the Soviet position on international human rights
In our view, the CSCE process has been more successful than any other supervisory mechanism in forcing the issue of human rights onto the East - west agenda. We argue that the CSCE process to review how the Helsinki Final Act was being implemented by its signatories has seen a harmonization of values. Since 1989, human rights have become more or less institutionalizes in East - West relations by the creation of a CSCE consulting mechanism and annual meetings devoted solely to the issue of human rights.
In order to explore to what extent East - West positions on human rights have converged and along what lines of argumentation the Soviet position has changed, we analyse the respective positions as they were from the start of the Helsinki negotiations and throughout the follow-up meetings in Belgrade (1977-78), Madrid (1980-83) and Vienna (1986-89). It was in the course of the third follow-up meeting that major changes could be observed in the Soviet human rights position. What we have identified as the three main sources of East - west controversy throughout the process will provide the thematic focus of our argument; the concept of non-intervention in the internal affairs of other states, the role and meaning attributed to the concept of East - west "detente", and the weight accorded various components of European security.
In conclusion, we pose the question whether the observed East - West convergence of human rights values within the CSCE constitutes a development towards a pan-European society of states.