Fletcher Alumni at the OSCE: Creating Cooperation in Times of War

By Rosalinde Nebiolo, MALD 2025 Candidate, The Fletcher School

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) started formally in 1994. Previously, it had been a summit to create dialogue and cooperation between the former Western and Eastern blocs. Today, the OSCE works to develop sustainable peace through political dialogue on a number of security and political issues facing the member states. Its missions work on election monitoring, promoting human rights, and development, making it an “invaluable” actor for the 57 participating states and other international partners. Fletcher alumni work in different parts of the OSCE, promoting its mission and working alongside different actors and populations in the field as well as in administrative offices in Vienna and Geneva. 

Fletcher alumnus Elia Boggia works as a senior advisor to the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM). His previous work included the UN Department of Political Affairs, specifically on Libya, and the Council of Europe. His regional focuses for the HCNM include southeastern and central Europe.

As he explained, “More than a human rights institution, [the HCNM] is a conflict prevention mechanism. The mandate is to prevent conflict which has inter-ethnic components, usually having to do with national minorities…It’s really about political analysis and diplomatic relations with various interlocks in all the countries and areas we work in.” 

Another Fletcher alumna, Connie Schneider, works as the Deputy Head of the OSCE mission in Kosovo. Her prior experiences include the European Union Police Mission in Afghanistan, and 11 years with the UN, including the UN mission in Kosovo. She acknowledged the mission is unique “because the mandate has not changed since 1999, whereas normally most mandates get changed every year.” 

One example she gave was the lack of reference to the “second dimension,” a concept referring to critical environmental or economic work that has been included in most mandates in more recent decades. To remain under the mandate, the Kosovo mission often links this work to their efforts with non-majority communities.

Christopher Blair, another Fletcher alumnus, has worked for the OSCE as an election observer in multiple Eastern European and Central Asian countries. Blair had a long-term interest in both regions which motivated his career. He worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina for eight years after graduating from Fletcher and became involved in multiple OSCE roles within the mission. Now as the head of the Human Dimension Department, he feels his fieldwork was invaluable to his approach. The department covers “all the OSCE programs on elections, fundamental freedoms, human trafficking, penitentiary reform, and rule of law issues in Kyrgyzstan.” 

Reflecting on his work, Blair shared, “I am still very passionate about the Balkans, and being in Bosnia for so long…it helps if people can see that you are really invested in the place, that you know what you’re talking about, you know the culture and the country”.      

The war in Ukraine has created a deadlock within the institution, which has limited the OSCE’s ability to respond to the ongoing conflict. The deadlock had resulted from an undecided budget in 2023, along with other institutional complications. The organization was faced with a deep divide between member states as the war erupted. The long-term impacts of the war on the OSCE are unclear, but the OSCE will have an important role to play.

Fletcher alumna Iana Maisuradze has focused her research on European security and transatlantic affairs. She commented on how the war may influence the future of the OSCE and the broader European security infrastructure.

“It’s all a bit of a foresight exercise right now before we know the end of the war. There are so many factors that determine the future of the OSCE…The three pillars of European security–EU, NATO, and the OSCE–will remain, but what will change is the perception of threat and how we approach Russia,” she continued. 

Maisuradze believes the OSCE will play a significant role in peace once the war ends but that the organization must “dig into its founding documents” to understand what is being adhered to and what needs better compliance for the future.