The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (formerly known as the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe) was launched in 1972. Designed to foster improved east-west dialogue, the CSCE began with 35 members, including all of the European States, the United States of America and Canada. The renamed OSCE now has 55 members.

In 1975, the CSCE process resulted in the adoption of the Helsinki Final Act. In this document, the participating states of the CSCE agreed to recognize their mutual interest in improving security through confidence building measures. The agreement laid down specific principles for the conduct of relations between states, including among others:

• Respect for sovereignty;
• Renunciation of the use of force for settling disputes;
• Peaceful settlement of disputes
• Non-intervention in internal affairs;
• Respect for human rights;
• Territorial integrity of states; and,
• The inviolability of frontiers.