Insingle-party systemsthe opposition may exist as an underground
movement, as in the past in the Soviet Union where no formal opposition
to theCommunist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU)was permitted but
dissidents continued to exist. Alternatively an opposition may engage in armed
struggle as, for example, in El Salvador during the 1980s. Despite the high level
of repression in many states it is rare to find no traces of opposition, albeit from
individuals acting clandestinely.
Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE)
The OSCE opened, as the Conference on Security and Co-operation in
Europe (CSCE), at the invitation of the Finnish government, in Helsinki in
July 1973, producing the Helsinki Final Act signed by all participants in 1975.
The original members included every European nation (except Albania) as
well as the USA and Canada. With the increasing complexity of central and
Eastern Europe, there were, by mid-1992, 53 member states, and the number
could grow still further. TheHelsinki processcontinued with follow-up
meetings in Belgrade (1977–78), Madrid (1980–83) and Vienna (1986–89). In
addition there have been several summit meetings of representatives of the
member states. The CSCE originated in thecold warera, during which it
produced largely meaningless agreements on civil rights and economic co-
operation, became a vital part of thearms controlprocess at the end of that
period (seeStockholm Declaration), and emerged as a body of potentially
great influence for the post-cold war world.
Although the CSCE had developed a very complex infrastructure, with
commissions, permanent secretariats, regular meetings at different govern-
mental levels and so on, the depth of its institutionalization was still at an early
stage at the beginning of the 1990s; however, in 1991 a secretariat was
established in Prague. The CSCE had ambitions to become the peace-keeping
establishment for post-Soviet Europe. However, its doctrine was based on
collective security, much as with the failedLeague of Nations, and it had
neither military nor economic force of its own. Indeed, as it was most popular
with the weaker European states, especially the former members of the
Warsaw Pactand the newly-independent states of the former Soviet Union,
it was peculiarly ill-adapted to exercise any serious control. The powerful
European states preferred either to develop the Western European Union, to
retainNATO, or to create new, Western-dominated institutions. Further-
more, there were alternative but much longer-established forums, such as the
Council of Europe or essentially economic groupings like theEuropean
Union (EU). The CSCE negotiated an agreement with NATO for the latter
to provide forces for peace-keeping, but that was unlikely to be implemented
Organization for Security and Co-operation in