The CSCE forum for security cooperation

What are the next steps for arms control in Europe, given the tectonic changes that have shaken the continent over the past four years? Negotiators in Europe, who labored for nearly two decades on the details of conventional force reductions and confidence-building measures, are grappling with that question. On September 22, 1992, a fresh, if perhaps belated, attempt to adapt to the new conditions of the post-Cold War era began in Vienna with the creation of the 54-member Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC). The FSC is the security component of the multifaceted Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCEO), which deals with a range of issues, including human rights, in addition to the various items on the security agenda. The forum is facing a task unprecedented in the scope of the CSCE: it is simultaneously trying to address arms control negotiations, security enhancement and cooperation, and conflict prevention. The primary objective of the forum will be to adapt the traditional tools of arms control, including those applied to military activity, to the contemporary {open_quotes}security parlance{close_quotes} of preventive diplomacy, peacemaking, peacekeeping, peace enforcement and peace building.