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Conclusion
In a multilateral response to any most important domestic political crisis
in Central Asia, the OSCE would soon be eclipsed by unilateral action or by
more dominant security institutions such as the Shanghai Cooperation Or-
ganization (SCO), the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), and the
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Although these organizations
have a weaker permission to arbitrate in member states internal affairs than
the OSCE, their superior resources and less challenging dialogue with Central
Asian governments gives these institutions greater opportunities to encour-
age these leaders to resolve internal differences that could escalate into major
civil strife. Should actual fighting break out, one or more of these organiza-
tions will perhaps take the lead in organizing any resulting peacekeeping
force. China and particularly Russia might effort to impose peace unilaterally,
but other governments likely would feel more comfortable if any military in-
tervention occurred under the auspices of an international institution. Most
importantly, a multilateral framework would make the situation more trans-
parent and give other actors a mechanism to communicate their own inter-
ests and concerns. Unfortunately, the OSCE has established itself largely
unsuccessful at performing such functions. 
As a result of international attention over the last decade, a large number
of NGOs have been recognized to help implement international assistance
programmes. Some of these have previously ceased to exist, but many others
have acquired organizational skills and are becoming more and more self-
sufficient. Moreover, the degree of civil society expansion varies significantly
across the region. Governments in the Caucasus and Central Asia have, since
their independence, arranged different policies towards NGOs, and some
States have created more favourable conditions for the NGO community than
others.
The OSCE has the essential elements in place to give important support
to the development of civil society. The organization has a high degree of flex-
ibility and an capacity to adjust to changing circumstances. Furthermore, the
combination of presence in the field and the experience of the OSCE’s au-
tonomous institutions has the potential to offer targeted projects and ensure
efficient implementation. The consciousness of governments of the role of
NGOs is in various cases still influenced by the traditional Soviet definition.
Under the Soviet system, grass-roots activities were mostly controlled and
organized from above, principally to create support amongst the general pop-
ulation for the regimes’ courses of action.
7
The NGOs that took part in these
endeavours could more exactly be described as GONGOs (governmentally or-
ganized NGOs). Changing this opinion is a long-term undertaking.
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The aim of this paper is to give a general overview of the status of civil
society and the role of NGOs in the Caucasus and Central Asia, and look at the
lessons learned from international assistance to local NGO communities, as
well as current OSCE activities. Nevertheless, the success of Operation En-
during Freedom is no guarantee of stability in Central Asia. Much work re-
mains to be done on designing and implementing internal reforms not only
in Uzbekistan, but also in Kazakhstan and the other Central Asian states as
well.
The NGO community is rapidly developing in a number of CIS States. As
a result of international support possibilities, and the newly-learned skills on
how to organize and qualify for these funds, new NGOs are established on a
regular basis. Keeping track of this growth is difficult for small OSCE centres
with few staff to monitor developments in all human dimension areas and
even harder to follow the development of new NGOs. On top of this, the cen-
tres are increasingly involved in trying to apply local development projects.
Footnotes
1. 
NGOs have, in particular, played an important role in raising environmental
concerns, developing awareness of environmental issues and promoting sustain-
able development. The encouragement of public participation in environmental
and social management through legislation in recent years has also enhanced the
role of NGOs and Major Groups.
2.
U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on International Relations. Sub-
committee on the Middle East and Central Asia. Assessing Energy and Security Is-
sues in Central Asia. Testimony of Steven Mann, Principal Deputy Assistant
Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, July 25, 2006.
3. 
This initiative began in August 2003 as an agreement between the OSCE
and the Kyrgyz government. It soon spread to other Central Asian countries. The
OSCE’s Special Police Matters Unit intends for this effort to bolster recipient gov-
ernment’s ability to counter terrorism and other illegal activities, as well as curb
corruption and other law enforcement abuses against citizen’s rights and free-
doms.
4.
A new European Commission Green Paper on energy strategy was pub-
lished on 8 March 2006, and was reportedly extensively revised after Russia cut off
gas to Ukraine. See “Call for EU to boost energy security”, Financial Times, 20 Feb-
ruary 2006. The Green Paper is available at http://europa.eu.int/comm/
energy/green-paper-energy/index_en.htm.
5.  
That program for Central and Eastern Europe, known as PHARE (Pologne,
Hongrie Assistance á la Réconstruction Économique), was created in 1989, origi-
nally to provide economic assistance to Poland and Hungary. It was used to fund
the pre-accession strategy for the countries of the region, and following the May
2004 enlargement, has been converted into the main aid mechanism for eight new
EU member states (the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland,
Slovakia, and Slovenia) as well as soon-to-be members Bulgaria and Romania.
6.
“European Commission Regional Strategy for Central Asia 2002-2006”,
30 October 2002, p. 12, athttp://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/ceeca/
rsp2/02_06_en.pdf.
7.
Some organizations which organized ‘voluntary’ activity in the past, like the
‘Comsomol’ (youth movement), have now lost public funding and institutional sup-
port. 
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