Lessons of the OSCE Police Assistance with a Case Study of Kyrgyzstan

Abstract

The aim of this research is to analyze the OSCE police assistance experience and political context in field missions behind it. The research investigates the rationale behind the OSCE intervention in domestic policing, analyzes and assesses the OSCE police assistance experience in the Western Balkans and Central Asia, the strategies of engagement. In conclusion, it offers a case study of police assistance in Kyrgyzstan, where the engagement has been lasting and extensive. The study consists of four major parts. In the first part the literature review on policing and international assistance reveal major trends in theoretical framework of police assistance; the second part answers the question "Why has the OSCE started policing?”; the third part explores the OSCE experience of policing in Central Asia, and the fourth one illustrates the above with a case study of Kyrgyzstan. The combination of different techniques of qualitative research, such as secondary and primary sources analysis and interviews, represent the core sources of the study. Official documents, reports and other data of the OSCE as well as government documents on cooperation with the OSCE on PAP, media articles and civil society publications on OSCE assistance in police reform have been analyzed. Five in-depth interviews with civil activists, members of NGO community and former Ministry of Interior employees were conducted in May 2013. In conclusion, the thesis argues that experiences of the OSCE police assistance are different in the post-Soviet space and South-Eastern Europe. In post-Soviet states, promising outcomes of the OSCE police assistance have also been achieved in many areas despite fragile political conditions, although less productive and at a slower speed than in the Western Balkans because of the shortage of resources and less political incentives of host states. Moreover, the OSCE police assistance faces a number of challenges during implementation, such as absence of host governments' willingness to transform police, the technical essence of assistance, absence of a clear genuine strategy and others. The case study of Kyrgyzstan demonstrates in-depth features and challenges of the OSCE police assistance within the fragile political environment, and dynamics of project development.