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University of London the Puzzle of Trust In UNIVERSITY OF LONDON THE PUZZLE OF TRUST IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: RISK AND RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT IN THE ORGANISATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE CHRISTOPHER ANDREJS BERZINS LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS AND POLITICAL SCIENCE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS A thesis submitted to the University of London for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations June 2004 UMI Number: U185674 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI U185674 Published by ProQuest LLC 2014. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 pOLn'iCAL A ’MO tuf. Site?# / H£rS>iS-3 F Christopher Berzins Abstract THE PUZZLE OF TRUST IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: RISK AND RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT IN THE ORGANISATION FOR SECURITY AND COOPERATION IN EUROPE A thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations Christopher Andrejs Berzins London School of Economics, University of London Spring 2004 In this thesis, I explore the prospects for trust in international relations. I advance an agency- centred model that paradoxically emphasises both vigilance and vulnerability between states. I argue that trust is created through the dual diplomatic pursuits of risk management (e.g. monitoring and securing individual state interests) and relationship management (e.g. promoting shared goals, institutions and values). This model is then employed to evaluate the evolution of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) into the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), 1972-2002. Despite a recent surge in the study of trust in the social sciences, trust has not been explored comprehensively in die discipline of international relations (IR). In particular, the work done in IR has neglected the kernel of trust that distinguishes it from other concepts such as prediction and cooperation; that is, the dynamic of suspension, originally elucidated by the sociologist Georg Simmel, which permits the leap from uncertainty (and unacceptable risk) to positive expectation. Rather than ‘reasonable doubt’, trust involves giving another ‘the benefit of the doubt.’ The trust model is capable of providing a novel interpretation of the history, normative declarations and activities of the CSCE during the late Cold War; and the OSCE’s post-Cold War role in conflict prevention, conflict resolution and post-conflict rehabilitation among its member states. For example, the OSCE’s absent military capacity (e.g. vis-^-vis NATO) restricts its ‘thick* risk management competence. The OSCE’s limited legal capacity (e.g. vis-&- vis the EU) likewise restricts its ‘thick’ relationship management competence. Nevertheless, the OSCE’s confidence-building activities, combined with its role as a forum for interstate dialogue explicitly linking security with international norms—especially democracy and human rights— fosters a ‘propensity to trust’ upon which member states are increasingly seeking to give each other the benefit of the doubt. 2 The Puzzle of Trust in IR Condensed Table of Contents PREFACE______________________________________________________________ 12 1. INTRODUCTION______________________________________________________ 17 2. RISK MANAGEMENT__________________________________________________ 32 3. RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT________________________________________ 56 4. SUSPENSION_________________________________________________________ 89 5. ETHICS_____________________________________________________________ 110 6. A MODEL OF TRUST IN INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS__________________ 127 7. THE CSCE AND THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF TRUST_____________________ 163 8. THE OSCE’S TRUST BUILDING ROLE __________________________________ 182 CONCLUSION_________________________________________________________ 223 APPENDICES A3,C: OSCE DOCUMENTS_________________________________ 237 BIBLIOGRAPHY_______________________________________________________ 263 3 Christopher Berzins Expanded Table of Contents TABLE OF CHARTS__________________________________________________________________ 8 TABLE OF FIGURES _________________________________________________________________ 9 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ___________________________________________________________ 10 LIST OF ACRONYMS _______________________________________________________________ 11 PREFACE ____________________________________________________________________________ 12 Two A nalogies ............................................................................................................................................ 13 In the Beginning .......................................................................................................................................... 14 O verview of Thesis Structure ............................................................................................................... 15 1. INTRODUCTION __________________________________________________________________ 17 The Trust Literature ............................................................................................................................... 21 Defining Trust.............................................................................................................. 25 A Brief History o f Trust............................................................................................... 26 Trust and International Security .......................................................................................................27 Confidence-Building Measures...................................................................................28 From Distrust to Thin Trust: From the CSCE to th e OSCE...........................................................29 The Ethics of Trust ................................................................................................................................... 30 2. R IS K M A N A G E M E N T ____________________________________________________________ 32 2.1 Trust as Rational Choice ................................................................................................................. 33 Homo Economicus.......................................................................................................33 Trust and R isk .............................................................................................................. 34 Defining Risk Management ......................................................................................... 36 2.2 The Risk D imension of cooperation , Reassurance and CBMs .................................................37 Trust and Cooperation Through Agent-Specific Punishments.................................37 Trust, Reassurance and Cooperation..........................................................................38 Risk and CBMs ............................................................................................................. 41 The Origins of CBMs...................................................................................................................43 Theory of CBM s ........................................................................................................................... 43 Transparency..............................................................................................................................45 Predictability ..............................................................................................................................46 Verification .................................................................................................................................46 C o h ere n ce.................................................................................................................................... 47 Feasibility .................................................................................................................................... 47 2.3 Trust and Realism ............................................................................................................................... 49 Traditional Premises o f Realist Theory..................................................................... 49 3. RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT ________________________________________________ 56 3.1 Bringing in Social Trust ................................................................................................................. 57 Modifying Homo Economicus..................................................................................... 57 Psychology....................................................................................................................58 Affect and Cognition .................................................................................................................... 59 C ulture.......................................................................................................................... 62 Sociology.......................................................................................................................63
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